F1 2026 Bahrain pre-season check: Charles Leclerc tops day two, Lando Norris completes most laps

Charles Leclerc was quickest on day two of Method 1’s 2026 pre-season check in Bahrain, pipping world champion Lando Norris who accomplished probably the most mileage.

The Ferrari driver set a 1m34.273s early within the morning session together with his time on softs subsequently going unbeaten – 0.511s faster than the medium-running McLaren, which was quickest on day one.

However Norris’ time additionally got here within the morning as groups carried out extra longrun programmes within the afternoon, whereas three purple flag intervals headlined the post-lunch session.

The primary occurred halfway by means of when Valtteri Bottas misplaced part of his Cadillac’s proper mirror, which landed on the monitor and practically hit the Williams of Carlos Sainz.

The stoppage lasted for about 10 minutes, earlier than one other purple flag intervened very shortly after as a consequence of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine stopping at Flip 1. A last purple flag waved in direction of the tip of the session to easily check the process.

It was the third time that Alpine precipitated a purple flag because the begin of the Barcelona shakedown final month, however it wasn’t the one Mercedes-powered outfit to undergo issues on day two in Bahrain.

George Russell, Mercedes

Picture by: Zak Mauger / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures

That’s as a result of the manufacturing unit squad accomplished simply three laps by way of Andrea Kimi Antonelli within the morning session, as an influence unit subject dominated out the Mercedes driver for a lot of the session.

However issues improved after lunch as Antonelli’s team-mate, and the bookmakers’ title favorite, George Russell moved as much as fourth within the leaderboard with 54 laps accomplished – three wanting a Bahrain race distance.

It got here after the Briton set a 1m35.466s, placing him a second behind Leclerc however solely 0.072s off third-placed Oliver Bearman, with whom he continually swapped positions all afternoon.

Russell’s Mercedes has arguably been one of many two most talked about groups in pre-season with the opposite being Pink Bull, which made headlines on Wednesday as Max Verstappen accomplished probably the most mileage.

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However then, like Mercedes, it had its operating curtailed on day two within the morning as newly promoted Isack Hadjar endured a hydraulic leak on his RB22, which meant the Frenchman accomplished only one lap.

Hadjar bounced again within the afternoon although with the fifth-fastest lap time, a 1m36.561s, that means he and the remainder of the sphere have been no less than two seconds behind the lead.

This comes with the standard caveat of it being pre-season testing and at such an early stage, the main target is on mileage as an alternative of lap time contemplating everyone is on totally different rubber.

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Isack Hadjar, Pink Bull Racing

Picture by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures

So it was Norris who led that specific leaderboard on Thursday, with 149 laps of Bahrain Worldwide Circuit forward of Leclerc (139), Bearman (130), Fernando Alonso (98) after which Gasly (97).

That clearly favours the drivers who drove all day relatively than share operating with their team-mate, as Mercedes, Audi, Racing Bulls, Cadillac and Williams all break up monitor time between drivers.

Nevertheless it was nonetheless McLaren that carried out probably the most mileage of all groups with Ferrari in second, forward of Racing Bulls (133), Williams (131), Haas (130) and Audi (114) with Cadillac (109) being the seventh and last group to hit a century of laps.

F1 Bahrain pre-season check Day 2 outcomes

Driver
Automobile
Engine
Time
Laps

1
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari SF-26
Ferrari 067/6
1m34.273s
139

2
Lando Norris
McLaren MCL40
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency
1m34.784s
149

3
Oliver Bearman
Haas VF-26
Ferrari 067/6
1m35.394s
130

4
George Russell
Mercedes F1 W17 E Efficiency
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency
1m35.466s
54

5
Isack Hadjar
Pink Bull RB22
Pink Bull Ford DM01
1m36.561s
87

6
Gabriel Bortoleto
Audi R26
Audi AFR 26 Hybrid
1m36.670s
67

7
Pierre Gasly
Alpine A526
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency
1m36.723s
97

8
Valtteri Bottas

Cadillac

Ferrari 067/6
1m36.824s
67

9
Alexander Albon
Williams FW48
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency
1m37.229s
62

Nico Hulkenberg

Audi R26
Audi AFR 26 Hybrid
1m37.266s
47

11
Arvid Lindblad
Racing Bulls VCARB 03
Pink Bull Ford DM01
1m37.470s
83

12
Carlos Sainz
Williams FW48
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency
1m37.592s
69

13
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls VCARB 03
Pink Bull Ford DM01
1m38.017s
50

14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin AMR26
Honda RA626H
1m38.248s
98

Sergio Perez

Cadillac

Ferrari 067/6
1m38.653s
42

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes F1 W17 E Efficiency
Mercedes F1 M17 E Efficiency

No time

Images from Bahrain Pre-Season Testing – Day 2

Alexander Albon, Williams