F1 Bahrain final pre-season test: Top stories and team-by-team recaps from day 2 as Antonelli goes quickest

Kimi Antonelli posted the fastest time in day 2 of the final pre-season testing in Bahrain, with Lando Norris topping the morning session as more issues plagued Aston Martin.

Kimi Antonelli goes fastest in Day 2 of testing. Photo credits: F1

Mercedes compression ratio turned heads in the first week of testing as the most significant technical innovation of the 2026 season. However, Ferrari stole the spotlight in the second week of testing, with two eye-catching technical upgrades.

Day one of testing showcased the Prancing Horse's interesting ‘blown’ winglet innovation. On closer inspection, the diffuser is connected to the rear wing assembly, meaning it stays mounted at all times. In theory, this significantly helps with the flow of air through the back of the car.

Ferrari stayed the talk of the paddock heading into day two, as Lewis Hamilton flashed an upside-down rear wing on the straights. The wing initially didn’t appear much different, with the only noticeable difference being the missing actuator in the middle.

However, Ferrari’s concept became clear when Hamilton switched to straight mode. While other teams' upper rear wings go flat to reduce drag down the straights, Ferrari’s instead rotated 180 degrees into an upside-down position. 

It was deja vu for Aston Martin, after Fernando Alonso halted on track and brought the session’s only red flag out. After some positivity in the morning with the Spaniard clocking in crucial mileage in the AMR26, the second session brought a bitter close to the Silverstone-based team’s day.

Team-by-team recap:

McLaren

The Driver's World Champion took driver duties for the morning session, where the MCL40 continued the theme of impressing in testing. Lando Norris finished the session with the fastest time of 1:33.453 on the C4 tyre.

Oscar Piastri took the reins for the afternoon session, bettering his teammates' time as track conditions improved as he entered the 1:32s. Late problems arose for McLaren during the practice formation laps, as Piastri stopped on the grid, while the Australian was able to get his car started again, but the issue raised questions over what went wrong.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen goes quickest after double duty in Sakhir. Photo credits: F1

Isack Hadjar ran the RB22 on Wednesday and rounded out the day with a disappointing mileage of 66 laps. The Frenchman suffered from a water system leak, ultimately bringing his testing day to a premature end. 

On Thursday, the four-time world champion Max Verstappen jumped into the car, bringing some positivity to the garage, running an incident-free morning session and clocking in a 1:33.584. The Dutchman remained on double duty and quickened his time to 1:33.162, keeping in close contention with McLaren. 

Mercedes

Mercedes continued to impress in testing, with both drivers clocking in notable times throughout the day. George Russell took the morning session clocking in 77 laps with his best time being 1:34.111. Kimi Antonelli took over for the afternoon session with the 18-year-old topping the timing sheets with a 1:32.803 with 79 laps.

Williams

While Albon stated Williams "weren't where we want to be", it was a positive outing for the Grove-based outfit | Photo credits: F1

Alex Albon took the double duty for Williams on Thursday. The team had a quiet running session on Wednesday with the theme continuing into the next day. Albon slotted onto the timesheet with a 1:34.555, placing the FW48 into seventh after 117 laps, three seconds behind Antonelli in first. 

Audi

Gabriel Bortoleto started the morning off strong, with no issues hindering the Audi, the Brazilian clocked in the lowest laps of the day with 29. He rounded out the day in 12th overall with a time of 1:35.263. Nico Hülkenberg took over driver duties for the afternoon where he also had a quiet session, finishing in an optimistic seventh overall with a 1:33.987.

Haas

Haas ran split driver duties for the second day of testing; Oliver Bearman was first up, where he ran 69 laps and recorded a best time of 1:35.279, placing him into 13th. Esteban Ocon took over in the afternoon, running 43 laps with a best time of 1:35.279, slotting him into ninth.

Alpine

Franco Colapinto took the double duty for Alpine on the second day of testing. The Argentine continued bettering his time throughout the day while also running strongly in the midfield. He rounded out the session with 120 laps under his belt with a 1:33.818, rounding out the day in sixth overall.

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson ran the VCARB 03 for Thursday. The New Zealander had a significant wiggle on his race simulation run during the afternoon session, having to abort the lap and run wide. Lawson opted to run on the C4’s where he gathered critical data, his fastest time of 1:34.532 secured his place in 10th.

Aston Martin

Another difficult day for Aston Martin, as the team confirmed power unit issues. Photo credits: F1

After a lacklustre showing in testing with issues plaguing the team in all the sessions its run in, Thursday began hopefully for Aston Martin. 

A morning without issues paved the way for Alonso to grab crucial data the team had been lacking, with the Spaniard running 68 laps throughout the day, with his best time being 1:37.472. However, the hope didn’t last long as Alonso came to a halt an hour into the afternoon session while on his race simulation run.

The team later confirmed that it was power unit issues that caused the stoppage, adding to the reliability woes hindering the AMR26. 

Ferrari

All eyes were on Ferrari after the Prancing Horse debuted its latest technical innovation, with the main topic of the day surrounding the inverted rear wing. Hamilton only ran five laps in the morning session, before Ferrari drew the curtain over the garage for the next three hours. 

The Briton later emerged in the final 15 minutes of the session for practice formation laps.

Hamilton returned in the afternoon session, on the hard C2 tyres, where he began simulating race runs, entering the 1:36’s before heading back into the pits.

A rear brake duct issue hindered the team in the closing hour of the session, with Ferrari replacing them both, before Hamilton came back out onto the track. The seven-time world champion rounded out the day in fourth overall, with a time of 1:33.408.

Cadillac

New to the grid, Cadillac, hit the track during the morning session with Valtteri Bottas taking the reins for the first stint. The team continued running with no issues on the second day, with the Finn running 58 laps with his quickest time being a 1:40.193.

Sergio Perez made a late entrance into the car for the afternoon session, making significant improvements on his lap time of 1:35.369. The Mexican was still 2.6s off Antonelli in first, but it was a notable achievement; Perez finished 14th overall with Bottas in 16th.

Looking ahead

One final day of testing remains before the paddock heads to Australia for the season opening on the 8th of March.

Lance Stroll returns to the Aston Martin tomorrow, where the team hope to have uninterrupted testing time. Rookie Arvid Lindblad will also jump back into the cockpit for a full eight hours of testing.