F1 Bahrain final pre-season test: Top stories and team-by-team recaps on Day 3 as Leclerc goes fastest
- Maham Mir
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Written by Maham Mir
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the day, and the test overall, after also topping the timing sheets in the morning. Meanwhile, the woes continued for Aston Martin as Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad set a new record ahead of his rookie season.
The final day of the final part of pre-season testing ahead of the season’s opening race in Australia is complete. All 11 teams tested their 2026 challengers at the Bahrain International Circuit for the final time before the first competitive session.
Five teams -- Ferrari, Williams, Racing Bulls, Aston Martin and Alpine -- elected to have a single driver on the final day of running. For all the drivers running, Turn 1 and Turn 13 remained problem areas as drivers, including Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, locked up there.
Mercedes caused some excitement as Kimi Antonelli brought out the only red flag of the day after stopping on track during the morning. At the end of the morning session, Leclerc sat at the top of the timing sheets with a 1:33.689, followed by Mercedes’ Antonelli and McLaren’s Piastri.
The woes continued for Aston Martin as they had next to no running conducted throughout the day. Honda, their new engine providers, released a statement addressing the issues and most concerningly for the team, the provider stated that the final day of testing would “consist only of short stints”.
At the end of the final afternoon session, it was Leclerc leading the timing sheets yet again with the other McLaren of Lando Norris following being and Red Bull's Max Verstappen rounding out the top three. Leclerc's time, an improved one compared to the morning session, was a 1:31.992 to remain at the top for the final day of testing.
Team-by-team recaps
McLaren
Oscar Piastri took the reins for the final morning session, adding 66 laps to the team’s overall tally and finishing the day in P11. Handing over to the reigning world champion Norris for the afternoon session, Norris added 47 lap to Piastri’s overall count and finished P2 overall.
Like his teammate in the morning session, Norris also faced delays getting to the track in the afternoon. The British driver missed almost half of the afternoon session before making his first appearance of the day.
Mercedes
Antonelli took charge in the morning session for the Silver Arrows, finally managing to have a relatively uneventful pre-season testing session with 49 laps worth of data collected and finishing P8 for his efforts. Making way for George Russell in the afternoon, the British driver added a further 82 of laps and ended up in P4.
Red Bull
Hadjar opened up the count for Red Bull in the morning session. Despite his obvious frustrations with his tyres locking up, including an incident at Turn 8, Hadjar added 59 laps to the count and finished P13 overall. After making the swap during the lunch break, Max Verstappen took over driving duties from Hadjar and added a further 65 laps. The four-time world champion finished P2 for the final day.
Ferrari
Leclerc led the programme for the entirety of the day for the Prancing Horses, topping the timing sheets by the end of the morning session. After an extended break into the afternoon session, the Monegasque driver rejoined the grid and concluded his day in P1 with 132 of laps worth of data collected for his efforts.
Williams
Carlos Sainz quietly put together a solid final day of running, logging 66 laps in the morning session and a further 77 laps in the afternoon for a total of 143 laps. The four-time Grand Prix winner finished the day in P10 on the timing sheets.
Racing Bulls
2026's only rookie, Arvid Lindblad got some incredibly valuable time in the cockpit of the car, completing the highest number of laps compared to anyone else on the final day of running and setting a new record for his efforts. The British driver completed 167 laps across the eight hours of running, finishing P9 on the timing sheets with his.
Aston Martin
Lance Stroll was forced to endure the persistent issues down at Aston Martin which kept him from completing a timed lap. Returning to the track for the afternoon after a disappointing morning, Stroll yet again failed to set a timed lap after six non-timed laps and thus ended the day in P17. The team concluded their programme with two hours and 15 minutes remaining on the clock.
Haas
The American outfit started their day with Esteban Ocon running in the morning. The Frenchman opened their account on the final day with count of 82 laps, ending the day in P12. After the hour break in the middle of the day, Ollie Bearman took over driving duties by adding a further 88 laps and finishing P6 on the timing sheets.
Audi
Making steady progress throughout the final few days of testing, aside from the locking up issues, Audi began their day with Hülkenberg and his 64 laps. In the afternoon session, despite a slow start which did not see Gabriel Bortoleo emerge for a while, a further 71 laps were added to the count. The veteran driver finished P15 while the Brazilian driver starting his sophomore season finished P7.
Alpine
One of the five teams to run a single driver on the final day of running, Pierre Gasly opened his morning account with 57 laps. Returning after the break in-between sessions, Gasly added a further 61 laps to his tally and ended the final day of testing P5 in the timing sheets with 118 laps to his name.
Cadillac
Sergio Pérez was slow to take to the track in the morning however managed to add 61 laps to the overall count for the newest addition to the grid. His teammate, fellow veteran driver Valterri Bottas, took over driving duties in the afternoon. The Finn added a further 38 laps and finished P14 overall.
Looking Ahead
All 11 teams have now completed their permitted running ahead of the season opener in Melbourne, Australia. With questions still up in the air about this year’s pecking order and who has made all of the correct design choices, the countdown for the first race is on.
