F1 Bahrain pre-season take a look at: Mercedes narrowly beats McLaren, Aston Martin breaks down

Kimi Antonelli went quickest on the penultimate day of Components 1’s pre-season testing in Bahrain on Thursday.

The Mercedes driver set one of the best time thus far for 2026-spec equipment on the Sakhir monitor, going over six tenths quicker than anybody previous to at the moment, with a 1m32.803s – narrowly faster than Oscar Piastri.

McLaren and Crimson Bull traded quickest laps throughout many of the day, with Mercedes sometimes becoming a member of the fray. It solely took a couple of minutes for Lando Norris to set a primary first rate benchmark in 1m34.625s, subsequently outpaced by Max Verstappen by simply 0.005s.

Norris responded with a 1m33.453s that was 0.006s faster than George Russell’s Wednesday reference, which Verstappen obtained near however did not match within the morning session – the Dutchman set a 1m33.584s.

Within the afternoon, Verstappen did snatch the highest spot away from McLaren for some time, setting a 1m33.444s on prototype Pirelli rubber earlier than enhancing to a 1m33.162s with the C3 compound.

Piastri had taken the MCL40 over from Norris and achieved a 1m33.624s on C2 tyres. The Australian went on to set a 1m32.861s shortly after 6pm native time with C3 rubber, however Antonelli instantly outpaced him in 1m32.803s.

McLaren and Mercedes additionally had the best day mileage-wise, with 158 and 156 laps respectively, whereas Verstappen topped the chart for drivers with 139 excursions.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Picture by: Simon Galloway / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures

Ferrari got here subsequent amid a troubled day. Lewis Hamilton accomplished 5 laps within the first half-hour however spent the rest of the morning session within the storage attributable to an unspecified difficulty.

The seven-time world champion went on to have a 78-lap day. He set a 1m33.928s, working vast in Flip 10; on a subsequent run, he was 0.451s down on Antonelli after sector two however went vast once more within the final nook and pitted instantly. He finally put a good lap collectively in 1m33.689s with C3 tyres and went on to enhance to a 1m33.408s.

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Alpine topped the midfield, as a glory run by Franco Colapinto with C5 tyres – the softest in Pirelli’s vary – yielded a 1m33.818s. Earlier, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg set the primary sub-1m34s lap by a midfield group in 1m33.987s with the C4 compound, on an encouraging day regardless of over two hours within the storage this morning because the group investigated a hydraulics difficulty.

Haas had the seventh-fastest automotive at the moment, however Esteban Ocon’s quickest lap was simply 1.4s slower than Antonelli’s benchmark.

Racing Bulls adopted three additional tenths away, with its automotive having additionally spent some two hours within the storage this morning, which didn’t stop Liam Lawson from finishing 106 laps. Williams’ Alex Albon was 0.023s down on Lawson with an excellent higher tally of 117 laps, regardless of not working within the first 90 minutes of the afternoon session.

The remaining two vehicles had been a way adrift. Like yesterday, Cadillac spent the primary third of the morning and afternoon classes within the storage; Sergio Perez set the brand new group’s quickest time in 1m35.369s, 2.6s down on Antonelli and 0.8s away from the again of the midfield.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Pictures through Getty Pictures

Aston Martin arguably had the worst day of all, after on Wednesday the group spent 4 hours within the storage attributable to an influence unit difficulty earlier than inflicting a purple flag when Lance Stroll surprisingly spun into the gravel entice.

The AMR26 brought on one other interruption early on Thursday afternoon as Fernando Alonso stopped on monitor with obvious technical gremlins. The 2-time F1 champion accomplished 68 laps, however all different groups – however Ferrari – have collected greater than 100 excursions’ value of information, and Alonso nonetheless was 4.669s off the tempo.

Two race begin trials happened at the moment amid well-documented issues. On the finish of the morning session, 4 vehicles participated, with Ferrari’s Hamilton taking a noticeably higher getaway than anybody else, as McLaren’s Norris struggled to get off the road.

The opposite simulation, which concluded the day, concerned all vehicles however the Aston and the Audi. Once more, Hamilton seemingly loved one of the best launch.

F1 Bahrain pre-season testing – Day 5 outcomes

Pos
Driver
Automobile / Engine
Time
Hole
Laps

1
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
1’32.803

79

2
Oscar Piastri
McLaren / Mercedes
1’32.861
0.058
86

3
Max Verstappen
Crimson Bull / Crimson Bull Ford
1’33.162
0.359
139

4
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
1’33.408
0.605
78

5
Lando Norris
McLaren / Mercedes
1’33.453
0.650
72

6
Franco Colapinto
Alpine / Mercedes
1’33.818
1.015
120

7
Nico Hulkenberg
Audi
1’33.987
1.184
73

8
George Russell
Mercedes
1’34.111
1.308
77

9
Esteban Ocon
Haas / Ferrari
1’34.201
1.398
58

10
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls / Crimson Bull Ford
1’34.532
1.729
106

11
Alexander Albon
Williams / Mercedes
1’34.555
1.752
117

12
Gabriel Bortoleto
Audi
1’35.263
2.460
29

13
Oliver Bearman
Haas / Ferrari
1’35.279
2.476
69

14
Sergio Perez
Cadillac / Ferrari
1’35.369
2.566
50

15
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin / Honda
1’37.472
4.669
68

16
Valtteri Bottas
Cadillac / Ferrari
1’40.193
7.390
58

Pictures from Bahrain Pre-Season Testing – Day 5

Lando Norris, McLaren