F1 BAHRAIN PRE-SEASON TEST: MERCEDES HEADS MCLAREN BY 0.01S, AS FOUR TEAMS HIT TROUBLE

George Russell set the fastest lap of Formula 1’s Bahrain pre-season testing so far as the second week of running got under way at Sakhir.

The Mercedes driver lapped in 1m33.459s this afternoon, which is two tenths faster than team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s benchmark last week, a 1m33.669s. Both of those were set with C3 tyres.

Russell wasn’t alone in going significantly faster than last week, with Piastri gaining a whole second to set a 1m33.469s, also on C3 rubber. The Australian topped the timesheet for some time before Russell’s late attempt pipped him by 0.01s.

The morning benchmark had been set by Charles Leclerc on prototype rubber in 1m33.739s, which is Ferrari’s quickest lap so far. Still, the Scuderia’s day wasn’t trouble-free, as Lewis Hamilton completed just 44 laps in the afternoon. The seven-time world champion spent 90 minutes in the garage due to an unspecified issue.

Lando Norris and Antonelli made up the top five, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar – the only driver to complete the whole day – down in sixth. Hadjar set a personal benchmark of 1m34.260s and covered a meagre – by current standards – 66 laps, after his morning’s activity was restricted to 13 laps by a technical issue related to the engine’s coolant circuits.

As feared by a number of midfielders, the gap to the top teams remained substantial. The fifth-fastest outfit was Williams, with Carlos Sainz in 1m35.113s, 1.654s slower than pacesetter Piastri.

Alpine, Audi and Racing Bulls were 1.795s, 1.804s and 2.294s off, courtesy of youngsters Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson respectively.

Among the remaining three teams – Aston Martin, Haas and Cadillac – two had a noticeably troubled day.

Aston suffered from a power unit issue, spending four hours in the garage, roughly from 12pm to 4pm local time. When Lance Stroll finally got the squad’s afternoon programme under way, he caused a red flag, spinning into in the Turn 10 gravel trap after suffering what looked more like a technical fault than a driving mistake. The team lost another hour and a half, so the AMR26 completed just 54 laps today.

On the positive side, Aston gained more than two seconds compared to last week, going from 1m38.165s to 1m35.974s.

Meanwhile, Cadillac lost some three hours as it mostly stayed in the garage early in both the morning and afternoon sessions – with the morning delay linked to sensor issues. Sergio Perez covered just 24 laps, with Valtteri Bottas on 35; no truly meaningful lap time was recorded by their yet-to-be-named car.

Amid concern regarding the start procedure with F1’s new-for-2026 machinery, a start sequence was simulated at the very end of the day, with none of the 10 cars stalling when the lights went out.

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F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 4 results

2026-02-18T16:15:01Z