Mercedes fastest as Lewis Hamilton issue brings Bahrain F1 test to an end

Andrea Kimi Antonelli led a Mercedes 1-2 amid sandbagging claims as an issue for Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton brought the final day of the Bahrain Formula 1 test to an early end.

The opening three-day pre-season test of the 2026 campaign has brought with it confusion over the initial pecking order, with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else.

Mercedes stands as the bookmakers’ favourite for the title ahead of the season, and has faced sandbagging claims from its rivals.

Amid these suggestions, Mercedes ends the Bahrain test with the fastest time overall, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli leading team-mate George Russell on the timesheets.

Russell led the way after the first session, with his 1m33.918s keeping him top of the pile into the first hour of the afternoon outing.

Kimi Antonelli had yet to turn a lap at this stage, though Mercedes sent him out with around two hours and 30 minutes remaining, claiming there was no issue preventing him from running.

He moved up to third soon into his run with a 1m34.491s, before taking top spot with just under two hours to go.

Posting a 1m33.900s, he followed this up 10 minutes later with a 1m33.669s, which marked the best lap of the entire test and remained the benchmark through to the chequered flag.

He headed team-mate Russell by 0.249s, while Ferrari completed the top three with Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.540s off the pace.

Hamilton brought out a red flag with just over 10 minutes to go when he stopped his Ferrari at Turn 8, having completed over 130 laps on Friday.

While his car was quickly recovered, race direction elected to carry out a systems check, including a stint of virtual safety car and a standing start.

Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren after over 150 laps of running, with Max Verstappen and Red Bull completing the top five.

Isack Hadjar was just under 0.3s back from his Red Bull team-mate in sixth, while Esteban Ocon put the Haas seventh from Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, the sister Haas of Ollie Bearman and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Colapinto almost suffered a crash on his way to the grid for a practice start, before his Alpine went into anti-stall down at Turn 1.

Several cars also failed to move off the line during the practice start phase.

Alex Albon was 11th for Williams, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson ended the day 12th with 119 laps on the the board.

Carlos Sainz (Williams), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) and Sergio Perez (Cadillac) round out the top 17.

Full 2026 Bahrain F1 test result after day three