F1 Bahrain pre-season test: Antonelli goes fastest overall
- Maham Mir
- Feb 13
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 14
Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Benjamin Crundwell
The final day of this first part of pre-season testing in Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit came to an end with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli topping the timesheets with a 1:33.669s. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton followed closely behind.
On track action
Low grip remained an issue for all the teams to contend with as the day was characterised with various instances of on-track sliding. Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto were only some of the drivers who were caught having moments in the dusty track conditions.
Difficult track conditions also meant that lock ups were common for many of the drivers, regardless of which tyre compound was being run; Oscar Piastri was victim to locking up and flat-spotting his tyres during the morning session especially.
Valtteri Bottas brought out the first red flag for the day as his Cadillac stopped on track. The newcomers have faced issues on all three days of running so far in Bahrain with reliability being a key point of consideration at the start of the new era of power unit regulations.
Russell finished the morning session at the top of the timing sheets with a 1:33.918s. His former Mercedes teammate Hamilton followed up in second with four-time world champion Max Verstappen rounding out the top three.
Hamilton caused the second red flag of the day because of unconfirmed reasons with 11 minutes remaining on the clock. This had been the only issue that the Scuderia had to face across the three days of running.
Overall, Antonelli set the fastest time of the day and the test with a 1:33.669s. His teammate was 0.249s behind with seven-time world champion Hamilton 0.540s behind Antonelli.
Team reports
Five of the 11 teams opted to run a single driver for both the morning and afternoon sessions for the final day of this three day stint in Bahrain. Here’s what all 11 teams finished with at the end of the third day in Bahrain.
McLaren
The reigning Constructors’ World Champions opted to have Oscar Piastri behind the wheel for both the morning and afternoon sessions. The Australian driver added 156 laps to the team’s overall tally of 422 laps, the most by any driver in a single day of testing.
The team confirmed that they wouldn’t be making any radical changes or additions to the car between now and the first race weekend in Australia. Instead, they would be following their original development plan and introduce upgrades later in the season.
Mercedes
The Silver Arrows opted to have both of their drivers run with George Russell starting the day off strong in the morning session and Kimi Antonelli taking over in the afternoon. Russell completed 78 laps, setting the fastest time of the test until that point in the morning.
Antonelli had issues in the afternoon session which saw him lose over an hour of running time. The Italian driver, who starts his sophomore season in F1 in 2026, had all three of his sessions in the first part of pre-season testing interrupted by one issue or another. However, despite the issues, he still managed to beat his teammate’s time with a 1:33.669s.
Red Bull
Driving duties were split between both drivers over at Red Bull where Verstappen took the lead in the morning before handing over to Isack Hadjar for the afternoon. The Dutchman logged 61 laps in the four-hour morning session, finishing P3 on the timing sheets for his efforts. Adding to the 61 laps of the day, Hadjar accumulated an additional 53 bringing the total to 114 laps.
Ferrari
The Italian team continued their uninterrupted programme, having been almost entirely incident free across these three days of running in Bahrain. For this final day of running, Hamilton was scheduled for both the morning and afternoon sessions with an impressive 150 laps to his name. His running was cut short as he brought out the second red flag of the day due to unconfirmed but suspected fuel issues.
Williams
The Grove-based team had a quiet day under the radar, steadily adding laps to their overall tally for the weekend. Carlos Sainz took the morning session and logged 68 laps before making way for his teammate Alex Albon who finished the day with 71 laps. In total, the teammates collected 139 laps worth of valuable data.
Racing Bulls
Lawson controlled the final day of running for Racing Bulls, with an impressive 119 laps on the board and an overall finishing position of P12. Despite the difficulties in trying to manage track conditions, the Kiwi driver was able to collect a vast amount of data ahead of his rookie teammate.
Aston Martin
Lance Stroll had a day of difficulties including discrepancies with the Honda power unit which relegated him to the garage for long periods of time. Within the time he was able to take to the track, Stroll was able to complete 69 laps and ended the day P15.
Haas
In his final session in the car for this testing period, Ollie Bearman logged 70 laps without disruption in the morning. Making way for his teammate Esteban Ocon, the French driver was able to add a further 68 laps to the team's tally and brought their total to 138 for the day.
Audi
It was split driver duties at Audi with Gabriel Bortoleto running in the morning before handing over to Nico Hülkenberg for the afternoon into evening session. Combined, the driver pairing were able to put 118 of laps on the board, 60 from Bortoleto who finished P14 and 58 from Hülkenberg who finished P10.
Alpine
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was behind the wheel for the full day, recording over a century of laps for his efforts and finishing P8 for the final timing sheets. The Argentine driver, although racing in his third season in F1, is attending pre-season testing for the first time in his career.
Cadillac
Cadillac’s morning was plagued with issues as Valtteri Bottas was forced to the sidelines for a large part of the session. The Finnish driver was able to put together 37 laps as he finished P16 and Perez added a further 62 laps to the count before finishing P17. In total, the American outfit were able to complete 99 laps for the day.
Looking ahead
With the first part of pre-season testing complete, the teams will return to Bahrain for the second part of testing which is set to take place between 18th to 20th February. Some teams will take the information gathered from the Barcelona shakedown and these three days of running to try out upgraded parts. However, all eyes will slowly be moving to focus on the first race weekend of the year in Melbourne, Australia.
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