2026 Bahrain pre-season testing – week 2 – day 3 recap

Leclerc fastest as pre-season testing ends in Bahrain

Charles Leclerc posted a 1:31.992 on the C4 compound in the final hour of Friday evening. It was the fastest lap of the entire pre-season, eight tenths clear of anyone else, and the only time in the 1:31s. Norris was second, Verstappen third, Russell fourth.

After Mercedes topped the first two days of week two, Ferrari took the final headline with a qualifying simulation nobody matched.

Week 2 – Day 3 classification

Ferrari

Leclerc ran all day. 132 laps, quickest in the morning on C3s, then quicker again on the C4 in the evening. The upside-down rear wing stayed in the garage. The standard car was fast enough.

Fred Vasseur was measured afterwards, as you would expect.

– Our target was to do a lot of mileage and I think this went pretty well. We don't know the fuel levels of the others, we don't know the engine mode.

He added that development pace through the season matters more than the result in Melbourne. That is probably true. But between the flip wing, the exhaust winglet, and now the headline time, Ferrari leave Bahrain carrying more momentum than anyone expected a week ago.

Mercedes

Antonelli ran the morning with flow-vis paint on a new four-element rear wing, the latest aero experiment of a busy week. He stopped at Turn 10 after 49 laps with a loss of pneumatic pressure, triggering the morning's only red flag. Mercedes changed the power unit over lunch.

Russell took the afternoon and finished fourth on 82 laps without attempting a low-fuel qualifying run. That partly explains the gap to Leclerc, and it was probably deliberate.

The pattern across the week is clear. Russell was fastest on day one, Antonelli on day two. The W17 has looked comfortable throughout. The pneumatic issues that have interrupted both weeks in Bahrain are the one thing left to resolve.

McLaren

Piastri ran the morning but a chassis issue found during the lunch break delayed the team's afternoon. Norris eventually got out at 17:00 local time and went second on fewer than 50 laps. The planned race simulation did not happen.

Performance chief Mark Temple said the team had made solid progress across the three days. The chassis problem is the detail worth watching before Melbourne.

Red Bull

Verstappen completed 65 laps and finished third. Hadjar added 59 in the morning.

Red Bull have not chased a headline at any point during testing. Their week two mileage sits ninth of 11 teams. When Verstappen has pushed, the car has been there. The RBPT power unit continues to draw praise from across the paddock.

The midfield picture

Bearman finished sixth for Haas after what he called the most productive day of the test.

– The steps that we've made have been super impressive. Today was by far the most productive of the test. I'm really proud of the hard work the whole team has put in.

Haas have been one of the quiet stories of pre-season. The car has been reliable from day one and the pace has followed. Team principal Ayao Komatsu said they have a clear development direction.

Elsewhere, Lindblad's 165-lap day stood out. Williams got through their full programme despite missing the Barcelona shakedown entirely.

Aston Martin

Stroll managed six laps. Honda's battery shortage, carried over from Alonso's failure on Thursday, left the team unable to continue, and they stopped with over two hours of running still available.

– It's clear the car isn't where we want it to be performance-wise. There's a long season ahead, and we'll keep pushing flat out to unlock more performance.

Across week two, Aston Martin completed 128 laps. That is fewer than Lindblad managed on his own.

Week 2 lap count by team

The mileage picture after 11 days

Mercedes lead the overall pre-season running with 6,193km across Barcelona and both Bahrain tests. Haas and Ferrari are right behind them, both above 6,000km, which tells you something about how smoothly those three programmes have gone.

At the other end, Aston Martin have covered 2,111km. That is less than a third of what Mercedes managed and roughly equivalent to what the top teams did in the Barcelona shakedown alone.

Red Bull sit seventh despite strong running in Barcelona. They used their Bahrain time selectively, yet nobody in the paddock is worried about them. Mileage is one measure. What you do with it is another. The Race's long-run analysis has a closer look at who used their laps best.

Testing is over. Melbourne is March 8.