Ferrari Power Unit leads the way in Barcelona F1 testing mileage. Ferrari’s Power Unit delivers encouraging reliability in the first two days of Formula 1 testing.

Excellent news for Ferrari after the first two days of Formula 1 testing in Barcelona: the Maranello-built Power Unit has outperformed both Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of mileage completed. Lap after lap, kilometre after kilometre, Ferrari’s Power Unit has been one of the standout elements of the opening collective test, even surpassing its main rivals. While these early sessions do not yet offer clear indications of outright performance, reliability remains a central theme. On that front, the Maranello engine — also used by Haas and Cadillac — has delivered very positive signals so far.

The first two shakedown days in Spain have not produced any major surprises. If anything, the most unexpected element has been the limited number of problems encountered by the teams: only a few issues, and only in rare cases serious enough to significantly disrupt test programmes. This represents a success for the new-generation Power Units, which continue along the electrification path that began back in 2014, a transition that was not without its initial difficulties.

As has been underlined on several occasions, analysing the pure performance of the new cars during these tests is extremely difficult. This was also confirmed by Charles Leclerc, who after his first outing in the Ferrari SF-26 explained that the push for lap time will only come more decisively in the coming days — on Thursday or perhaps Friday. In the meantime, however, encouraging signs are emerging when it comes to reliability.

The Ferrari Power Unit completes the most laps

In Barcelona, the priority is to run, collect data, and become familiar with the new systems. For this reason, the total number of laps completed by the different Power Units becomes a key metric of interest. In this respect, Ferrari has every reason to be satisfied: adding together the mileage covered by the Scuderia, Haas, and Cadillac, the Maranello Power Unit has accumulated at least 315 laps.

This figure puts Ferrari ahead of the Red Bull-Ford unit, which, combining the laps completed by the Verstappen/Hadjar pairing and Liam Lawson, stops at 270. Even further back is Mercedes, which during the first two days could rely only on its works team and Alpine, reaching a total of 209 laps. Audi has faced greater difficulties, failing to go beyond 27 laps, while the debut of Honda’s Power Unit is still eagerly awaited.

As the paddock looks toward the final days of testing, Ferrari’s early reliability advantage provides a strong foundation for the SF-26’s development. While lap times will eventually become the focus, the sheer volume of data gathered by the Maranello Power Unit across three different teams suggests that the Italian manufacturer has started this new era on the front foot, leaving rivals like Red Bull and Mercedes to play catch-up in the mileage charts.