2026 Formula 1 Bahrain Preseason Test Day 2: Teams & Drivers Report from Sakhir

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing suffered reliability issues which limited their running, while Aston Martin finally managed some decent mileage.

Here is what the teams and drivers had to say at the end of Thursday at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.

McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team concluded another productive day on track with 149 laps completed by Lando Norris, the most out of all drivers on Day 2 of Formula 1's Bahrain Pre-Season Test 1.

The 2025 Drivers' World Champion piloted the MCL40 throughout both sessions on the second day in Sakhir, starting the morning with planned aerodynamic testing that included running aero rakes for a scheduled proportion of time before moving on to completing longer runs that gained important mileage and setup learning for the team's 2026 challenger.

The afternoon session focused more on race preparation and simulation, with Lando successfully completing the programme. During the stints, Lando had the possibility to experiment with the behaviour of the car in traffic and in overtaking manoeuvres, which gave him an insight into what racing could look like for the upcoming season under the new set of regulations. This activity continues to put the team on target for valuable learnings across the week as work is undertaken to gain knowledge on extracting maximum performance from the car setup and the different power unit modes. The team also completed further live pit stop practice towards the end of the day's running, which is an important part of our season preparation.

The team were honoured to be joined in the garage by guest of the Bahrain International Circuit and Tennis ATP Number 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who watched on following his 2026 Australian Open success. Team Principal, Andrea Stella, gave the career Grand Slam winner a warm welcome to the McLaren Mastercard garage, giving Carlos a behind-the-scenes look at the world of Formula 1 as he spectated the number one car take to track.

Oscar Piastri will return to action in the MCL40 tomorrow as the team concludes its running on the third and final day of Bahrain Pre-Season Test 1.

Lando Norris: "A productive day, with lots of laps and lots of learning. It's been useful to get so many laps in, and we've learned a significant amount about the car and about the regulations, which gives us some more data to analyse and work on. Thanks to the team for the hard work over this first test; being able to do the most laps today is down to their hard work. We'll be back tomorrow to understand more from Oscar's runs and then start to get prepared for the second test next week. I can't wait to get back in the car."

Neil Houldey, Technical Director - Engineering: "Our second day on track during Pre-Season Test 1 in Bahrain is complete, and we can be pleased with the overall amount of learning we've achieved today. It's been one of the most productive days of pre-season so far, and we collected lots of important data.

"We'll continue to work with the information collected to tweak and refine the car in terms of how it operates, especially following Lando's race simulation this afternoon. That data is very useful from a car engineering perspective and will play an important part in car development as we seek to get more performance from these regulations.

"We look forward to seeing Oscar back in the car tomorrow as we conclude our final day on track with lots of work planned to continue building a solid foundation for the team ahead of the Pre-Season Test 2 in Bahrain next week."

Isack Hadjar: "Obviously, the day didn't start as we had hoped because of the issue but it's pre-season and these things happen.

"The Team worked hard to get me out just before the end of the morning session, which put us in a good position for the afternoon.

"Although we had less mileage than others, we made the most of it and gathered plenty of data ahead of Max's and my run tomorrow.

"We managed to complete several of our programmes in a short timeframe, so it's reassuring to know that the morning disruption hasn't affected our overall plan.

"Once I got out on track, I felt good in the car, so we can be pleased with today's work."

The second day of the first test saw the team complete 57 laps in Bahrain.

Kimi was in the car for the morning, but his running was curtailed by an issue that necessitated a Power Unit swap.

The Italian was only able to complete three laps before his day came to a halt.

George took over the W17 for the afternoon and, after leaving the garage one hour into the session, enjoyed more productive running than his team-mate had.

Working through several test items on the C3 tyre exclusively, he completed 54 laps and finished the day P4 on the timing screens.

The final day of the first test takes place tomorrow with George in the car in the morning before Kimi takes over for the afternoon.

A limited selection of images of the day is available on our media site. All imagery is rights-free for editorial use.

Kimi Antonelli: "It was a frustrating morning on my side as we were limited to just three laps of running due to a Power Unit issue. That wasn't ideal after losing several hours of track time yesterday afternoon too. Whilst it is a setback, this is exactly what testing is about. We need to work through these issues to be in the strongest possible position come the first race in Melbourne.

"On the positive side, George was able to complete lots of laps in the afternoon and add to our learning. We also have four more days of running here in Bahrain, which gives us plenty of time to catch-up on the time we've lost. I'm looking forward to getting back into the W17 tomorrow and having a smoother time than we've enjoyed across these first two days."

George Russell: "After our limited running in the morning, it was important that we worked through as much of the afternoon programme as possible. We were able to do that and completed over 50 laps before the end of the day.

"Our running was focused exclusively on the C3 tyre as we continued to build our knowledge of the W17. We were able to make a step forward with the overall balance compared to yesterday, but we've still got lots of work to do. I'm looking forward to being back in the car tomorrow morning and hopefully we can make good progress."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: "We've endured another frustrating day here in Bahrain. Kimi lost the entire morning session after we found an issue with the Power Unit; changing the whole unit was quicker than swapping the affected part but unfortunately meant we weren't back on track with George until one hour into the afternoon running.

"George thankfully had a better time of it than Kimi. After yesterday's issues, we're still behind on the setup work but at least got the car into a reasonable window by the end of the day. We'll focus on trying to recover the lost running tomorrow. We've got George in the car for the morning and Kimi for the afternoon and hopefully can finish the week with a solid, trouble-free day. There are a few issues that we need to dig into on the performance side and hopefully we can make more progress ahead of next week's second test."

On the second day of the first Bahrain test, Charles Leclerc was at the wheel of the SF-26 for the whole day, continuing with the team’s programme. The Monegasque covered a total of 142 laps (769 km).

Morning: Charles took to the track shortly after 10 local time, beginning his programme on C3 compound tyres, the only specification used during the first part of the day. The focus was on set-up checks and data collection, as well as on laying the foundations for next week’s work. In total, Leclerc completed 62 laps (336 km), running consistently across different stint lengths to evaluate tyre behaviour in hot but progressively improving track conditions. His best time in the morning was a 1’34”273.

Afternoon: After the break, the other two tyre compounds also came into play. Charles resumed on C3 tyres before running the C2 and C1 compounds to gather further comparative data across two long runs. In the afternoon, he completed 80 laps (433 km), setting a personal best of 1’35”107. Work on the SF-26 will continue tomorrow, the final day of the first of the two Sakhir tests.

Charles Leclerc: "My running for this first test is now complete. We’ve completed the programme without issues, which is always a positive. It’s always nice to look at the lap times, but in testing they don’t really mean much: the focus has to stay on ourselves and our work. The feeling in the car is okay, but it’s still very early days. Today was about putting in as many laps as possible and completing all the tests we had planned. Now we keep working and continue building step by step."

Matt Harman, Technical Director: "We've done some great mileage today where we explored quite a large part of the envelope of the car, both in terms of how we drive it and energy deployment in different parts of the track.

"We've tried a few exploratory set-up conditions and did part of the race distance which was unfortunately then red-flagged.

"The positive news is we're looking good from a temperature point-of-view, meaning we can start pushing the car at full strength, and at the moment it is about making sure we understand some of the attrition.

"It was a second positive day for us in understanding the car - we are learning all the time and look forward to building on it on day 3."

The second day of pre-season testing saw TGR Haas F1 Team driver Ollie Bearman complete 130 tours of the Bahrain International Circuit following a full day at the wheel of the VF-26.

Continuing the work of teammate Esteban Ocon yesterday, the Brit spent the morning collecting data exclusively running Pirelli's C3 tire, achieving 55 laps in the morning session (10:00 – 14:00).

In the afternoon (15:00 – 19:00 local), the run plan consisted of adding mileage on different compounds, utilizing the C1 tire for the first time this test. Enjoying reliability on track, Bearman's evening running finished with another 75 laps on the board, adding to the third highest tally of the day, recording a quickest time of 1:35.394.

The first week of pre-season testing concludes tomorrow with both TGR Haas F1 Team drivers sharing duties, Bearman driving the morning session, with Ocon taking over in the afternoon.

Ollie Bearman: "It was a good day, we did a lot of laps, 130 to be precise. I'm happy that we had no mechanical issues and that we were able to get through our program for the day, work on the car, and continue the hard work Esteban had been doing yesterday. Generally, I was happy with the progress made throughout the day. Of course, this track changes a lot from night to day, but we were still able to get a good read in all conditions. I'm happy and excited to continue the work tomorrow morning."

Ayao Komatsu – Team Principal: "It was another good day of testing today. First and foremost, the car is reliable, and if we're out on track, we're always learning something. With Ollie in the car today, we completed various test programs, learned a lot, and made progress. There's still lots to work on, but I'm really happy with how, slowly but surely, we're getting to grips with these new regulations and how to get the best out of the car. Tomorrow, we're focusing on getting answers to some remaining questions, as after today, we only have three days of testing until the first round in Melbourne, so tomorrow is a very important day."

The Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team continued its pre-season testing programme at the Bahrain International Circuit today, with Fernando Alonso taking to the wheel of the AMR26 for his first outing in Bahrain.

Fernando logged valuable mileage across the day, completing 55 laps in the morning session and a further 43 in the afternoon.

Lance Stroll will return to the cockpit tomorrow to conclude the first week of testing in Bahrain, as the team continues to gather crucial data and refine the AMR26.

Fernando Alonso: "It was good to be back in the AMR26 and get some solid mileage today. We worked through our programme and moved into longer consecutive runs, exploring different setups. Testing is always about learning and today was no different. It's clear there is a lot of work for us to still do and we need to improve our pace. The team will analyse everything over the coming days to make sure we are well prepared for the test next week and for the first race of the season in Melbourne."

Pierre Gasly: "Overall it has been quite a good day where we have completed close to 100 laps, so I am quite pleased with that and the direction we are beginning to take.

"Our running was cut short this afternoon after we saw something on the data which we did not like and we took some precautions and stopped the car. We missed out on some laps this evening but it is definitely better to be more careful than usual at this stage of the season with a new car as we have much more running to do here tomorrow and next week at the Bahrain pre-season test.

"We still completed a lot of laps and we are really learning so much each time we are on track, especially with some new systems and new ways of working. There are still many things to improve, many answers to find and a lot of analysis to complete as a team.

"Generally, at this stage, we're not looking into absolute performance as there are still many boxes to tick. My feeling in the car gets better every day, we have made a good step from Barcelona, and I look forward to being back in the car next week."

This time it was Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) who set the fastest lap on the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. The Ferrari driver lowered yesterday's benchmark, set by Lando Norris (McLaren), by three tenths, with Norris finishing second today. The Monegasque driver completed his lap in 1:34.273 on the C3 compound, 0.511s ahead of Norris, who set his time on C2. Norris also recorded the fastest time of the day on the C1 compound, stopping the clock at 1:35.795.

The use of the three available slick compounds, the hardest in the Pirelli range and most suited to the Sakhir circuit, followed the same pattern as yesterday. The C1 accounted for 21% of today's mileage, with a total of 259 laps completed. The C2 and C3 split the remaining laps: 28% (345 laps) for the former and 52% (649 laps) for the latter.

With Thursday's session completed, the total number of tyre sets used rises to 87 for the C3, 49 for the C2 and 27 for the C1. No team chose to fit the Intermediates for installation laps today.

For most of the session, teams focused on set-up runs, but there were also some significant stints which, due to their length, could be representative of race conditions. Racing Bulls completed a 22-lap run on C1, Cadillac managed 19 laps on C2, and Ferrari completed 19 laps on C3.

The four drivers who did not take to the track yesterday ran today. Remaining in the garage this time were Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari).

Weather and track conditions were very similar to those on the opening day, with track temperatures ranging between 25°C and 42°C and air temperatures between 24°C and 32°C. Testing resumes tomorrow at 10:00 local time and will conclude at 19:00.