Mercedes leads day one of final Bahrain F1 test as rivals hit trouble
Mercedes ended the opening day of the second Bahrain F1 test fastest of all
Early 2026 Formula 1 pre-season favourites Mercedes kicked off the final Bahrain test fastest on the opening day with George Russell, as its rivals encountered problems.
The competitive order remains difficult to understand following last week’s three-day test in Bahrain, though Mercedes did nothing to shake off the favourite tag by leading it outright.
After Ferrari led the opening session of Wednesday’s running at the second Bahrain test, Mercedes once again assumed control in the evening.
George Russell, putting over 75 laps on the new car, was fastest with a 1m33.459s he set in the final hour of running.
Charles Leclerc’s 1m33.739s that he set in the opening hour remained the benchmark after hour one of the afternoon session.
But the Ferrari driver was eventually toppled by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who produced a 1m33.469s to shoot to the head of the order.
As the session wore on, a number of drivers took the opportunity presented by better track conditions to attempt time attack runs.
Russell was able to edge ahead of Piastri during this phase with a 1m33.459s, which went untroubled to the early end to the day.
In order to run through the starting procedure again following last Friday’s disastrous attempt, the session was red-flagged with 10 minutes remaining.
Piastri held onto second spot ahead of Leclerc, who handed over to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon.
But Ferrari encountered its first genuine technical issue of testing in Bahrain, with Hamilton stuck in the garage for some time in the second session.
He would eventually rejoin the session to complete over 40 laps, with the seven-time world champion seventh overall.
Lando Norris was fourth after his run in the McLaren in the first session, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth after 69 laps.
Isack Hadjar’s day was once again interrupted by a technical issue in the first session on his Red Bull, as a water system problem robbed him of track time.
He ended the day sixth, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz was eighth ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
There was only one incident-related red flag on Wednesday, after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll spun into the gravel at Turn 11 inside the first hour of the afternoon session.
This compounded another tough day for the team, whose Honda engine developed a problem in the first session and robbed it of crucial track time.
Stroll was Aston’s leading driver in 15th, 2.515s off the pace with just 26 laps on the board, while Fernando Alonso in 17th could only get 28 laps under his belt.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen did not run on Wednesday, as he takes over from Hadjar on Thursday in the Red Bull.
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