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End of the day
This also marks the end of the Formula 1 pre-season testing for 2026 at this point. We are sending our ticker on a short break for now and will be back for you in time for the first race of the season in Melbourne.
Until then, things will of course continue as usual on our portal. Have a nice evening, enjoy the upcoming weekend and see you then!
Read more Honda: “not satisfied” with performance and reliability
Vasseur: No guarantee for Melbourne
Ferrari set by far the fastest time today. Frederic Vasseur explained to Sky: “Everything is going well so far, but we must not forget that the goal of this week was to accumulate mileage, collect data and start the pre-season preparation with a solid foundation.”
“We have quite good reliability, but performance is relative, as we ultimately don’t know the fuel loads of the others nor the engine settings. And we know that they didn’t use certain tires,” the team principal reminds.
“We have the fastest time here, but that has nothing to do with what will happen in Melbourne in two weeks,” he clarifies.
Fresh images
We have now also filled our photo gallery with the best snapshots from the afternoon. Feel free to click through again!
Photos: 2nd Formula 1 winter test 2026 in Bahrain
Almost as fast as 2022
This comparison might also be quite exciting. We already compared this year’s test times with those of previous years earlier. And indeed, the “new” Formula 1 is not as slow as feared.
In 2022, the last time a completely new set of regulations took effect, Max Verstappen was the fastest man at the winter test in Bahrain with a 1:31.720. Today Leclerc drove a 1:31.992, so he was not even three tenths slower.
Considering that the cars are still at the very beginning of their development, that is more than solid.
The practice start earlier …
… is available here again in the video. Some teams did much better this time than they did yesterday.
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Aston Martin: Not all tasks checked off
You can see for yourself: Aston Martin completed by far the fewest kilometers of all teams in Bahrain. Lance Stroll admits: “It’s clear that the car is not yet where we want it to be in terms of performance. We know that there is still a lot of work ahead of us in the coming weeks and months.”
Mike Krack adds: “This puts us on the back foot at the start of the season, as we were not able to complete all the usual tasks that typically belong to winter testing. We are aware that there is still a lot of work ahead of us.”
And Shintaro Orihara from engine partner Honda adds: “Overall, we are currently not satisfied with our performance and our reliability. However, we are all looking for solutions together in Sakura, Milton Keynes and Silverstone after solutions.”
Lap table
Here is also an overview of the combined lap table of the two test weeks in Bahrain:
1. McLaren (817)
2. Haas (794)
3. Williams (790)
4. Ferrari (745)
5. Racing Bulls (734)
6. Mercedes (714)
7. Audi (711)
8. Alpine (677)
9. Red Bull (672)
10. Cadillac (586)
11. Aston Martin (334)
Mercedes: “Screams of sandbagging”
Mercedes finishes the Bahrain test “only” with the second fastest time. It is striking, however, that they set this already on the penultimate day. Russell was a few tenths slower this afternoon than Antonelli was yesterday.
“It screams of sandbagging,” says expert Jolyon Palmer on F1 TV. He believes that Mercedes still has significantly more up its sleeve than what was shown here in the two weeks in Bahrain.
With regard to the large Ferrari lead, it should also be remembered that Leclerc was the only top driver to use the softer C4 tires on his fastest lap.
You can find the complete results of the second Bahrain week here.
Read more “Significant progress”: Audi with positive test conclusion