Mercedes’ George Russell edged McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to the fastest lap on the opening day of the second Bahrain F1 testing week as Aston Martin and Cadillac struggled with issues.
Russell topped the timesheets with a blistering lap time of 1:33.459, overpowering Piastri by just 0.010s as Formula 1 returned to Bahrain for the final pre-season outing.
This marked a continuation of the Silver Arrows’ dominance from the previous week’s test, where their drivers had already set benchmark laps, underscoring the effectiveness of their 2026 power unit and aerodynamic package under the sport’s revamped regulations.
Testing commenced at 8:00 AM local time under pristine conditions, the pit lane buzzing as all 11 teams rolled out their evolved prototypes for initial low-speed shakedowns and systems checks.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wasted no time stamping his authority, venturing onto the freshly resurfaced track on medium Pirellis to post the morning’s benchmark of 1:33.739 after just 15 laps, a time that evoked memories of his Week 1 prowess.
McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris slotted in second, 0.313 seconds adrift after completing 54 laps, prioritizing baseline aero correlations and tyre warm-up mappings amid the F1 Commission’s concurrent paddock deliberations on final regs tweaks.
Mercedes’ Antonelli held third, 0.419s off Leclerc, his 28 morning laps blending quali sims with long runs before handing over to George Russell in the afternoon.
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The afternoon session started with Oscar Piastri vaulting McLaren atop the timesheets with a 1:33.469 on fresh softs, but Russell responded surgically with a 1:33.459 lap which remained unbeaten despite steering issues with the Mercedes W17.
Charles Leclerc’s morning benchmark slotted into third, while teammate Lewis Hamilton mustered seventh in the afternoon after spending 90 minutes in the garage due to an unspecified issue, the seven-time world champion completing just 44 laps.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez was forced to head back to the Cadillac garage just before the two-hour mark due to sensor issues, limiting the Mexican driver to just 24 laps.
The same issue befell Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon after completing only 35 laps as Cadillac concluded Second Bahrain F1 test Day 1 with no meaningful lap time recorded by their yet-to-be-named car.
Isack Hadjar’s morning run in the Red Bull RB22 was limited to 13 laps after encountering a technical issue related to the engine’s coolant circuits. However, the Frenchman rebounded with 53 more laps in the afternoon concluding the day in sixth overall.
Fernando Alonso’s run in the Aston Martin AMR26 was curtailed after just 28 laps with the team confirming a power unit related issue, spending four hours in the garage from 12pm to 4pm local time.
When the AMR26 ventured out late in the afternoon, Lance Stroll triggered a red flag after spinning into in the Turn 10 gravel trap in what appeared to be a technical fault than a driving mistake. Stroll completed just 54 laps adding to Aston Martin’s woes.
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