Mercedes driver George Russell topped the timesheets on day one of Formula 1’s second pre-season test in Bahrain, edging McLaren rival Oscar Piastri.
Russell clocked a fastest time of 1:33.459 in the closing stages of the afternoon session, outpacing McLaren driver Oscar Piastri by 0.010 seconds.
Every team apart from Red Bull, which opted to field Isack Hadjar for the entire day, opted for a change of driver over the lunch break.
Piastri stepped in for Lando Norris at McLaren as Russell took over from Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton replacing morning pacesetter Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
Alex Albon made way for Carlos Sainz at Williams with Liam Lawson replacing Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls.
Lance Stroll took over from Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin with Oliver Bearman stepping in for Esteban Ocon at Haas.
Gabriel Bortoleto replaced Nico Hulkenberg at Audi, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas replacing Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez at Alpine and Cadillac respectively.
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Russell reported an issue with the steering of the Mercedes W17 in the early stages of the afternoon session.
“The steering feels a bit heavier at the apexes now compared to last week as I’m turning,” he commented over team radio.
“Understood,” came the reply from Mercedes. “That will be the changes with the steering.”
After Alonso was limited to just 28 laps due to a power unit issue in the morning session, the afternoon appeared to begin with another small fright for Aston Martin.
A group of mechanics were seen paying close attention to the engine cover of the AMR26 just as Stroll was preparing to leave the garage.
It proved only a minor delay with Stroll taking to the track 45 minutes into the session.
Hadjar also returned to the circuit after missing the final two hours of the morning session, in which he completed just 13 laps.
Piastri became the first of the afternoon session to set a meaningful lap time, clocking a 1:35.560 on the C2 tyre to take fourth on the verge of the hour mark.
Minutes later, Stroll brought out the first red flag of the afternoon session following a strange spin under braking at Turn 11, leaving him in the gravel.
When the session resumed, Hamilton took fourth from Piastri with a time of 1:34.576.
Russell also knocked Piastri down the order, going just 0.012s slower than Hamilton on the same C3 tyre, before the McLaren driver improved to third, falling narrowly short of Norris’s quickest lap from the morning session. Sainz and Colapinto also breached the top 10.
Hamilton improved his time as the two-hour mark approached, posting a 1:34.299, but remained in fifth at that stage.
It was only then that Bottas appeared for the first time for Cadillac following delays to the team’s afternoon running, initially lapping more than eight seconds off the pace and locking up heavily into the Turn 8 hairpin at one stage.
Lawson briefly went ninth as the sun began to set, with Sainz seeing a promising lap go to waste with a wide moment at Turn 11 before Colapinto slotted himself between the Williams drivers in eighth.
Piastri posted purple first and second sectors to set the fastest lap of all with two hours left on the clock, with his 1:33.469 faster than Leclerc’s morning effort by 0.270s.
Russell improved to third a short time later, falling 0.279s adrift of Piastri’s benchmark with the same C3 rubber, with Mercedes’ focus largely on long running.
Hamilton’s car appeared to develop an issue with the screens up outside the Ferrari garage as Hadjar returned to the track after another extended absence, improving to seventh.
Following his earlier stoppage, meanwhile, Stroll returned to the track as darkness descended with 80 minutes remaining.
Stroll posted a personal best lap to improve to 16th with just over an hour remaining, albeit 3.211s off the pace, with the Aston Martin locking up at Turn 4 and Turn 10 on separate laps. Bortoleto also shaved around 0.7s off his time to go 10th.
Hadjar posted a purple first sector to take relieve Hamilton of sixth place as the last hour commenced despite failing to improve in the final two sectors.
Stroll also improved to 14th, getting within three seconds of Piastri’s benchmark in the process, as Bottas’s troubles at Turn 8 continued with another wide moment after locking up.
He also went straight on at Turn 1 but managed to end the day with a quicker time than teammate Perez lodged in the morning session.
Hamilton returned to the track with around 40 minutes on the clock after 90 minutes in the garage, sporting a significant amount of flow-vis paint on the front wing of his Ferrari.
Russell set the fastest first sector of the day but saw his lap go to waste by running wide at Turn 10, with the Mercedes driver raising a hand in frustration as he bailed out of the corner.
Russell was not to be perturbed, once again going purple in Sector 1 to knock Piastri off top spot with 32 minutes remaining.
The Mercedes driver’s lap of 1:33.459 was just 0.010s faster than Piastri’s earlier time on the same C3 tyre.
Piastri did not respond with McLaren’s focus on long running towards the end of the day, with Hadjar abandoning a push lap before the end of the first sector.
The red flag was thrown with 10 minutes to go as part of the FIA’s evaluation of a potential new start sequence for the F1 2026 season.
This saw all cars return to the pit lane before a formation lap to the grid. After the completion of another formation lap, all grid panels flashed blue for five seconds before the usual start light sequence began.
The tweak is aimed at addressing concerns that the new cars for 2026 could result in dangerous incidents off the line at the start of grands prix.
F1 Testing: Bahrain Test 2, Day 1
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:33.459 76 laps
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.010 70 laps
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.280 70 laps
4 Lando Norris McLaren +0.593 54 laps
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.699 69 laps
6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +0.801 66 laps
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.840 44 laps
8 Carlos Sainz Williams +1.654 55 laps
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.795 60 laps
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1.804 71 laps
11 Alexander Albon Williams +2.231 55 laps
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +2.294 61 laps
13 Oliver Bearman Haas +2.319 42 laps
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +2.439 61 laps
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +2.515 26 laps
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +2.959 65 laps
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +3.077 28 laps
18 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +3.282 49 laps
19 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +3.310 75 laps
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +3.339 35 laps
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac +4.732 24 laps
