2026 Formula 1 Bahrain preseason Test 2: Russel fastest overall, new start procedure tested

Russell took over the W17 from teammate Kimi Antonelli who drove in the opening session and racked up 68 points and was fifth fastest overall.

The Briton added 77 laps in the afternoon which meant Mercedes ended Day 1 not only fastest but with the most laps - 145.

Oscar Piastri was driving McLaren's MCL40 in the PM and set the second fastest time as he, along with Lando Norris, accumulated 124 laps for the reigning F1 Champions.

Norris, who was second fastest behind Charles Leclerc in the morning session, ended the day fourth fastest as the Monegasque morning time was good enough to claim the third spot.

After a tough morning when the RB22 was marred with a cooling system pressure issue, Isack Hadjar finally managed some running finishing the day sixth fastest adding 53 laps to the 13 he managed in the morning.

Seven-time F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh fastest in the Ferrari SF-26 and managed only 44 laps compared to Leclerc's 70 earlier in the day. That was due to a technical issue that kept the Briton in the garage for almost 90 minutes.

Carlos Sainz was on duty for Williams in the afternoon and drove the FW48 55 times around the Bahrain International Circuit posting the eight fastest time while Alex Albon managed the 11th fastest time.

Alpine managed 121 laps at the end of the day thanks to the efforts of Pierre Gasly (AM) and Franco Colapinto (PM) the former ending the day in 14th, the latter managing ninth.

Gabriel Bortoleto shared the Audi R26 with Nico Hulkenberg on Wednesday in Bahrain as both drivers delivered 120 laps for the team despite not managing an headline times. 

The Brazilian was tenth fastest while his German teammate was down in 18th.

Racing Bulls managed the second most number of laps on the day with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad racking up 136 laps for their team in the VCARB03.

Lawson was 12th fastest while Lindblad posted the 19th best time.

Ollie Bearman ended the day 13th fastest for Haas and along with Esteban Ocon, who was 16th fastest, managed 107 laps for the American team.

Lance Stroll brought out the Red Flag in the afternoon session after spinning and ending up in the gravel and as a result managed only 26 laps as his car was taken back to the garage for repairs on a truck. He was 15th fastest.

It wasn't the best of days for Aston Martin as Fernando Alonso only managed 28 laps in the AM and was 17th fastest. However, the team did managed to two seconds' worth of performance.

Cadillac also had a bad day as they managed only 59 laps as Sergio Perez was hampered by technical issues in the morning.

Valtteri Bottas took over in the after and managed 35 laps. The Finn and the Mexican were 20th and 21st on the timing screens.

Max Verstappen was the only driver who did not take part in the first day of the second test in Bahrain.

One of the talking points about the 2026 F1 regulations is race starts which is currently a concern since the drivers will have to remain stationary for a long time on the grid as they rev up there engines to spin the turbos and make sure the boost is sufficient for the internal combustion engine to launch especially as the electric motor does not kick in until the car reached 50kph.

Following a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission on Wednesday, it was decided to conduct a trial of a revised start procedure were as an extra five-second pause was added before the countdown from the time the last car lined up on the grid to give all drivers a fair chance to prepare their engines.

The FIA shared the following explanation of the experiment:

As part of the end-of-day procedures during the second week of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the FIA will evaluate a new race start lights sequence.

At approximately 18:50 a red flag will be shown and all cars will return to the pit lane. The cars will then complete a formation lap, followed by an additional formation lap, before lining up on the grid for a simulated race start.

Once all cars are in position, a new Pre-Start Warning will begin: all grid panels will flash blue for 5 seconds. After the blue warning ends, the usual start sequence will begin.

In total, the sequence will consist of:

* Red flag

* Cars back in pit lane and line up in the fast lane

* Pit exit open - cars leave pit lane to go back on the grid

* Extra formation lap

* Cars back in position on the grid

* 5-second blue pre-start warning

* Standard start light procedure