(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ferrari finished the 2026 Formula 1 winter testing as the fastest team. Charles Leclerc broke the 1:32 minute mark by eight thousandths of a second in the final half-hour of testing in Bahrain, setting the fastest lap of the tests so far (follow the final test day live in the ticker).
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For the Monegasque, it was his third attempt at the best time overall. On the first attempt, Leclerc made a driving error in Turn 11 and went off track; on the second attempt, he pushed the time to just under 1:32.3, before significantly improving to 1:31.992 minutes on the C4 during the third attempt (to the results).
“The test day went very smoothly; we worked through our program and tested all the planned points,” says Leclerc. “As for performance, it’s still difficult to assess where we really stand, as the teams are still hiding their true form. That’s why it’s important not to focus too much on lap times, but to prepare for the first race.”
In any case, the competition was clearly left behind, although the top teams also refrained from major performance runs at the end. World champion Lando Norris (McLaren) preferred to drive with the harder C2 rather than improving his time again, so he finished in second place, already 0,879 seconds behind.
Third-placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who had set his best time on the prototype tire, was even more than 1,1 seconds behind.
Problems at Mercedes and McLaren
The previously fast Mercedes, which were at the top of the table on Wednesday and Thursday, had to settle for fourth place with George Russell (+1,205) on Friday. Worse, however, were the recurring reliability problems that plagued the Silver Arrows.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli triggered the red flag in the morning after just over two hours when he rolled to a stop with his W17 between Turns 10 and 11. For the Italian, the workday ended after 49 laps because Mercedes had to replace the power unit in the rear of his car.
Because this took more than three hours, Russell was also only able to join the test day late. At least the Briton still managed a respectable 82 laps, which puts Mercedes in sixth place in the mileage rankings with 131 laps.
But the Silver Arrows were not the only top team in trouble on Friday: McLaren also had to change parts on the car in the early afternoon, so Norris completely missed the first two hours and only completed 47 laps. Teammate Oscar Piastri (11./+2,360) had previously managed 66 laps in the morning.
Midfield teams dominate mileage table
Red Bull also split the final test day. Initially, Isack Hadjar (13./+2,519) was out for 59 laps in the RB22, before Verstappen took over for another 65 laps after lunch. At Ferrari, Leclerc drove all day; Lewis Hamilton had already completed his program.
Behind the four top teams, the standings were shaken up once again. Because some teams even brought out the C5 tires at the end, the morning drivers – such as Antonelli (8.), Piastri (11.), or Hadjar (13.) – were pushed further down the order.
Thus, the best time of the midfield ultimately went to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly with the C5 tires. The Frenchman slotted into fifth place, 1,429 seconds behind, ahead of Oliver Bearman (6./Haas/+1,495) and Gabriel Bortoleto (7./Audi/+1,763), both of whom had fitted the C4 tire.
Read more Formula 1 live ticker: The final test day in Bahrain live!
Behind Antonelli, Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad (9./+2,157) and Williams’ Carlos Sainz (10./+2,350) completed the top 10. Haas (170), Racing Bulls (165), Williams (141), and Audi (135) were also the four teams with the most laps on Friday.
Aston Martin packs up after six laps
Meanwhile, Aston Martin has reached rock bottom. The past few days had already been a debacle for the racing team, but on Friday, Adrian Newey’s team involuntarily went one step further.
Early in the day, engine partner Honda felt compelled to issue a statement admitting to a shortage of parts. The consequence: Aston Martin announced they would only run very short stints – with a half-hour break between each run to evaluate the data.
But it didn’t even come to that: Lance Stroll only drove out of the garage at the very end of the morning session and finally packed up in the afternoon after a total of only six laps. “We have completed our program,” was the brief message. Stroll had not set a time on the board at that point.
“It’s been a challenging few weeks here in Bahrain, and today’s limited running was not the way we wanted to end the second test,” says the Canadian. “It’s obvious that the car is not yet where we would like it to be in terms of performance, and we know that there is a lot of work ahead of us in the coming weeks and months.”
Trackside Engineering Officer Mike Krack adds: “The biggest challenge was dealing with some reliability issues that limited our track time. This puts us in a difficult position for the start of the season, as we were not able to complete all the usual tasks typical of winter testing.”
“We are aware that a massive amount of work lies ahead of us, and everyone involved in this project knows exactly what we need to focus on to improve our situation,” says Krack.
Ocon drives on intermediates
Newcomer Cadillac was the other racing team that failed to achieve a triple-digit number of laps – but at 99, they were at least close. Once again, it took a long time for the Americans to take to the track for the first time in the morning, and they also spent some time in the garage in the afternoon.
Valtteri Bottas (14./+3,298) only managed 38 laps, while his teammate Sergio Perez (16./+8,850) at least managed 61, without, however, having set a particularly representative time. Nico Hülkenberg classified between them, showing a four-second gap in his Audi after 64 laps.
Meanwhile, Haas driver Esteban Ocon (12./+2,502) provided one of the scenes of the day, driving out on intermediates despite a track temperature of 42 degrees Celsius. This was a test of active aerodynamics, where in wet conditions only the front wing flips, not the rear wing as well.
Next up is the season opener in Australia, which will take place in two weeks at Melbourne’s Albert Park.
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