BAHRAIN TEST ONE – Charles Leclerc fastest on the second day, half a second ahead of Lando Norris
Charles Leclerc was fastest on the second day of the first pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Ferrari driver set a 34.279, which put him half a second ahead of Lando Norris. The Monacan looked strong and held on to the top spot after setting his best time during the morning session as he completed two and a half race distances.
The time was also half a second faster, though set on the soft tyres, from Norris’s best time of the test set on Wednesday afternoon on medium tyres. The morning for the world champion was focused on long runs, before the second part of the afternoon was full of minor incidents, causing red flags.
Norris, meanwhile, put his McLaren six tenths faster than the Haas of Ollie Bearman, as he continued a strong start to begin his championship defence, showing the McLaren was reliable, completing around the same amount of mileage as Leclerc and Bearman. The Haas driver, however, was a second off the pace of the Ferrari.
But McLaren and Ferrari enjoyed another smooth day of running as F1 continued an extended pre-season schedule designed to allow teams to adapt to the introduction of new power unit and chassis regulations for the 2026 season. But with four days to go, one more on Friday of this test, they could be the teams to beat.
George Russell was fourth, nearly eight hundredths off Bearman, but it was a tough morning for the early favourites, Mercedes. There was nearly a collision between Russell Norris when the McLaren closed on Russell on the entry to Turn Ten and had to take evasive action as he locked up his front-left tyre.
Kimi Antonelli only managed three laps and failed to set a time during his stint in the morning because of a power unit issue, which resulted in the team having to change the power unit.
There were also problems for Red Bull early on, Isack Hadjar morning session was cut short by a two-hour delay because of a “routine issue during the car build” relating to a hydraulic leak, which has caused a two-hour delay. Hadjar was fifth as he went a tenth faster than Gabriel Bortoletto.
Valtteri Bottas put his Cadillac eighth as the Finn went four tenths faster than Alex Albon, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg completing the top ten. Bottas was the first to bring out the red flag when his wing mirror from his Cadillac detached and nearly hit the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
The second came ten minutes after the session restarted. Pierre Gasly’s Alpine stopping on track was more concerning for Mercedes and the team, as it was the third time in five days of running that they had stopped on track.
Earlier in the day, Bottas’s teammate Sergio Perez also suffered a stoppage that left him bottom of the timing sheet four seconds off the headline pace.
Sainz, meanwhile spilt the two Racing Bulls, the Spaniard just over a tenth behind Arvid Lindbald with the British-Swedish driver’s teammate Liam Lawson thirteenth. Fernando Alonso clocked up just under a hundred laps as he went four tenths faster than Perez, while Antonelli was last.
The session ended with the usual system checks by the FIA, drivers all reacting appropriately as yellow flag, red flag and Virtual Safety Car messages appeared trackside and on their steering wheels.
Those not in action on day two were Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Franco Colapinto, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri; they will either get a full day or half a day on Friday.