F1 Testing: Mercedes set fastest times of week but George Russell warns of ‘scary’ Red Bull amid pecking order uncertainty | F1 News

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and George Russell set the fastest times on the final day of the first Bahrain test ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton amid continued claims and counter claims from F1’s four leading teams about who is really 2026’s early leading force.

Russell had topped Friday’s morning session with a then test-best quickest lap of 1:33.918 before team-mate Antonelli twice went faster during his afternoon in the car.

The Italian youngster finished up posting a 1:33.669 to set the benchmark for the first week of running in Sakhir.

Hamilton ran all day in the Ferrari SF-26 with his third-best time of 1:34.209 set during his morning’s running.

The seven-time world champion racked up a mammoth 150 laps, although his day ended slightly prematurely when he had to park the car in a run-off area after it ran out of fuel with just over 10 minutes of the afternoon session to go.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also had a busy full day of running and finished fourth fastest in the world champions’ MCL40 after a day-high 161 laps, eight tenths slower than Antonelli.

Red Bull split their running between Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjkar and neither troubled the top of Friday’s timesheet, both drivers finishing over 1.5s back on Antonelli’s time in fifth and sixth places respectively.

However, echoing comments made by his team boss Toto Wolff on Wednesday, Russell said Red Bull and their first-ever power unit were actually the combination to beat heading into next week’s final test.

“Probably the most concerning thing for everyone is looking at Red Bull’s performance, especially on their engine side, they look a step above everyone else,” suggested Russell.

Russell added to the written media: “You’re talking in the order of half a second to a second in [energy] deployment over the course of a lap.

“So, it’s pretty scary to see that difference.”

But Red Bull themselves have continued to point to bookmakers’ title favourites Mercedes as having the best package so far, while both Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris have talked up Ferrari’s pace after Leclerc showed an eye-catching afternoon long run on Thursday.

“Ferrari were quick but clearly Mercedes on one lap were very, very quick today in bad conditions,” said Pierre Wache, Red Bull’s technical director.

“It’s difficult to judge but it looks like we are behind on our side. We also did a race simulation yesterday, so some stuff to improve. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are there at the top.”

Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz quipped that “between the top four teams it’s a case of pass the parcel!” as they each attempt to downplay claims they have the fastest car so far.

What else happened on the final day?

While there is huge uncertainty as to the pecking order at the front with one test to go before the Australian Grand Prix on March 6-8, what the second week of running with the new generation of cars did appear to underline was that the top four teams of last season remain at the front.

However, the battle to be the next-best force appears less clear cut.

Ferrari-engined Haas did, though, cap an impressive second test with their VF-26 car by setting Friday’s seventh and ninth quickest laps with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman respectively.

Bearman clocked 70 laps in the car in the morning before Ocon added 75 in the afternoon.

Alpine too enjoyed a strong end to the week, which was particularly welcome for them after technical glitches had stopped their A526 on track in each of the test’s first two days.

Franco Colapinto completed 144 laps across eight hours of running although was involved in a bizarre moment right at the end of the session when the field lined up for practice starts on the pit straight under planned red flags, the Argentine almost crashing into the barriers as he attempt to line up in a grid box.

Williams (146 laps), Racing Bulls (119 laps), Audi (118 laps) also racked up Friday centuries, as did new entrant Cadillac (104 laps) despite losing some track time in the morning when Valtteri Bottas caused the day’s first red flag when the car stopped.

Aston Martin completed the fewest laps – 72 – with Lance Stroll’s 16th-fastest time exactly the difference away from the front that he had alarmingly suggested the new Honda-powered AMR26 currently was when speaking to media on Thursday – four and a half seconds.

It is unlikely that will prove their true deficit by the first race in Melbourne, when team boss and design chief Adrian Newey has already promised upgrades, and Fernando Alonso told Sky Sports when asked about the work ahead for the team: “Surely, we need to integrate a little bit the [Honda] power unit and the very first gearbox for Aston Martin.

“But I think the aero performance and the engine performance will still dominate the lap time, so it’s where we need to unlock more performance.

“We still don’t know exactly where we are, maybe next week we have a clear picture, but at the moment those are the two areas that we are concentrated on.

Sky Sports F1’s Bahrain Testing schedule

Test Two: Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th, Friday 20th February

• 6.50am-11.05am: Morning session Live
• 11.55am-4.10pm: Afternoon session Live
• 8pm: Testing Wrap

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