Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheet on the penultimate day of pre-season testing in Bahrain ahead of the start of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship in a little over a fortnight’s time.

The 19-year-old Italian set the fastest time of pre-season testing with a lap of 1:32.803, good enough to edge out McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by just under six hundredths of a second. Third place at the end of day went to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who set a best time of 1:33.162 to finish 0.359 off Antonelli. 

The day’s early running was made by Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris who set an early morning benchmark of 1:34.625. Verstappen took over at the top, going 0.005s than the world champion before Norris returned to P1 with a lap of 1:33.453 that remained the reference for the rest of the morning. 

After the break, Verstappen once again claimed top spot with a lap of 1:33.444 on prototype compound Pirelli tyres before he moved to the C3 compound and opened the gap further to 1:33.162. 

McLaren now had Piastri at the wheel of the MCL40 and the Australian, who looked quick on C2 tyres during his stint, went even quicker with a late afternoon run on C3 rubber that briefly jumped him to P1 on 1:32.861s but Antonelli then stole the McLaren’s man’s thunder with a lap of 1:32.803.

Fourth place in the session wen to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton though the seven-time champion was sidelined in the morning a technical problem on his SF-26. After eventually logging 78 laps, the Briton ended the day with a best time of 1:33.408, 0.605 off Antonelli and 0.045s ahead of Norris whose 72 laps took McLaren to the day’s biggest team total at 158s laps. They were followed by Mercedes with 156 tours of the Sakhir circuit. 

Franco Colapinto used C5 tyres, the softest in Pirelli’s range, to hand Alpine sixth place on the timesheet, though the Argentine driver’s effort, a 1:33.818, still left him 1.015 off P1. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Audi with George Russell in P8 in the second Mercedes 1.308 off his team-mate. Ninth place went to Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10, despite the Italian outfit losing two hours of running in the morning. Even then Lawson posted 106 laps. 

Williams’ Alex Albon also lost time, with the Thai driver sitting out 90 minutes in the morning but once on track he pounded through 117 laps to finish in P11. Trouble also hit Cadillac and Aston Martin. The US squad lost time in both the morning and afternoon, with early runner Sergio Perez finishing in P14 while team-mate Valterri Bottas propped up the order in P16.  Splitting them was Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion stopped on track, completed just 68 laps and finished the day 4.669s off the pace.

Following yesterday’s trial at the end of running, the FIA conducted simulated race started at the end of each session today with no major issues apparent. 

2026 FIA Formula 1 Pre-Season Test, Bahrain 2 – Day Two 
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:32.803  79
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren / Mercedes 1:32.861 0.058 86
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull / Red Bull Ford 1:33.162 0.359 139
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:33.408 0.605 78
5 Lando Norris McLaren / Mercedes 1:33.453 0.650 72
6 Franco Colapinto Alpine / Mercedes 1:33.818 1.015 120
7 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:33.987 1.184 73
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.111 1.308 77
9 Esteban Ocon Haas / Ferrari 1:34.201 1.398 58
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls / Red Bull Ford 1:34.532 1.729 106
11 Alexander Albon Williams / Mercedes 1:34.555 1.752 117
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:35.263 2.460 29
13 Oliver Bearman Haas / Ferrari 1:35.279 2.476 69
14 Sergio Perez Cadillac / Ferrari 1:35.369 2.566 50
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin / Honda 1:37.472 4.669 68
16 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac / Ferrari 1:40.193 7.390 58