MERCEDES ENDS FORMULA 1 BAHRAIN TESTING WITH A 1-2

The first week of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain ended at 17:00 with Kimi Antonelli setting the fastest time of the day, a 1:33.669. Oscar Piastri completed the most laps overall, finishing a busy and productive Friday in Sakhir.

Morning Session: Early Pace from Russell

The day began with no immediate track action. Ferrari was the first team to show visible changes, running with rakes behind the rear wheels for airflow data collection. Soon after, George Russell and Max Verstappen took to the track.

Lance Stroll was confirmed as Aston Martin’s only driver for the day. Fernando Alonso did not drive on Friday. The team focused on understanding and fixing the car’s unstable behavior seen earlier in the week. The plan included experimenting with different ride heights and aerodynamic mapping rather than chasing fast lap times.

By the first twenty minutes, Carlos Sainz, Russell, Liam Lawson, and Stroll were all on track. Sainz briefly led the times, but Russell quickly set a strong benchmark, dropping into the 1:34 range.

At almost the end of the first hour, Russell improved again with a 1:34.0, establishing himself as the reference.

However, immediately a red flag interrupted the session after Valtteri Bottas stopped on track. The session resumed shortly after, downgraded to yellow flags.

Cadillac continued to face difficulties throughout the morning, struggling with reliability issues typical of a young team.

Once the green flag was waved, Russell and Piastri went out on soft tyres. Shortly after, Russell became the first driver to break into the 1:33s, setting a 1:33.918.

Aston Martin Focused on Power Unit Issues

Much of the morning discussion centered around Aston Martin. According to information from the paddock, the main problem appeared to be related to the power unit. Cooling was not considered a major issue. The team believed that improvements would come with more mileage and fine-tuning, particularly on the engine side.

There was optimism inside the garage. The chassis and aerodynamic package were reportedly under control, with confidence that performance could improve significantly over the coming weeks.

Stroll continued to accumulate laps, though still several seconds off the pace. By late morning, Russell was running a full race simulation, using all three tyre compounds and maintaining consistent lap times in the 1:39 range during his long stint on harder tyres.

The morning session ended at 14:00 local time with Russell as the fastest driver and signs of progress from Red Bull’s power unit.

Afternoon Session: Race Simulations and Antonelli’s Push

The afternoon session began at 15:00 with four final hours of running in this first test week.

Franco Colapinto and Isack Hadjar were the first to head out. Lawson and Stroll soon followed. By this point, Lawson had already completed 84 laps, one of the highest totals of the day.

Aston Martin passed 60 laps with Stroll at the wheel. The team continued focusing on gathering data rather than chasing quick times.

Kimi Antonelli joined the session slightly later but quickly moved up the timesheets. He placed third, and at 20 minutes later he set a new fastest time of the day, just 18 thousandths of a second quicker than Russell.

Several drivers did race pace simulations during the afternoon, including Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Nico Hülkenberg. Long runs were the priority for many teams.

Times continued to improve around the first hour, with Hadjar and Colapinto among those finding more speed. Antonelli’s pace remained strong and consistent.

Final Red Flag and End of the Week

At 16:49, a red flag was shown after Lewis Hamilton stopped on track with his Ferrari following a very productive day of 138 laps.

The session resumed at 16:53 for the final minutes, mainly for procedural practice rather than performance runs.

At 17:00, the first week of pre-season testing officially ended.

Antonelli topped the times with a 1:33.669. Piastri completed the most laps of the day. Teams now head into the second week with clearer data, better understanding of their cars, and plenty still to learn.

Day 3 results

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