Ferrari dominates final day of 2026 F1 testing as McLaren misses track time
Charles Leclerc dominated Friday at the second Bahrain F1 pre-season test
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc dominated the final day of the 2026 Bahrain Formula 1 pre-season test by almost a second, as McLaren missed vital track time.
Six days of official testing at the Bahrain International Circuit came to a close on Friday, following one of the most intriguing pre-seasons in recent memory.
With track conditions at their absolute best in the final hour of the second Bahrain test, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc went for a true performance run.
Having topped the first session with a 1m33.689s, which kept him fastest after hour one of the afternoon session, Leclerc strengthened his position with a 1m33.162s inside hour two.
With just under an hour remaining, Leclerc lit up the timing screens and produced a test-best 1m31.992s to move 0.879s clear of the field.
That time came under no threat as the session drew to a close, with Leclerc putting over 130 laps on the SF-26 on Friday.
The Ferrari driver bested reigning world champion Lando Norris, who was second with a 1m32.871s after a troubled afternoon in the McLaren.
The Briton did not emerge inside the first two hours of the afternoon session as McLaren worked on an apparent cooling issue.
Missing crucial track time, Norris still managed almost 50 laps to add to team-mate Oscar Piastri’s 66 from earlier in the day.
Max Verstappen completed the top three for Red Bull after 65 laps of running and was 1.117s off the pace, while George Russell was the lead Mercedes driver in fourth.
Pierre Gasly completed the top five for Alpine ahead of Haas driver Ollie Bearman, while Gabriel Bortoleto was seventh for Audi.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was eighth after his session in the morning was ended early due to a car issue.
F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad was ninth after a record 165 laps in the Racing Bull, while Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10 for Williams with a similarly impressive lap count of 141.
Piastri was 11th ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Valtteri Bottas, who was the leading Cadillac.
Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) and Sergio Perez (Cadillac) were the last of the classified runners down to 16th.
Aston Martin’s disastrous pre-season ended early on Friday afternoon, as an ongoing engine issue and lack of power unit parts meant Lance Stroll completed just six laps.
The 2026 F1 season begins in Australia on 6-8 March.
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