Day 2 of first F1 2026 Bahrain pre-season test as it happened

Away from his harsh words about the 2026 rules, Verstappen was happy with where Red Bull is at form-wise right now but remains cautious. 

He told Sky Sports F1: MV: “Well, I think it’s always super important to be able to run a lot of laps. And that’s what we did yesterday. We could go through our programme without too many big problems. But it’s still very complicated and a lot of things that we want to do better and get on top of, because it’s all so new still; there’s a lot of room for improvement. But I guess I’m not the only one who says that at the start of a new ruleset.

“Well, you can’t really say what is good and bad. But the positive thing is not breaking down and everyone is super proud of the new project, because it’s immense. It’s not an easy feat to get right. We are heading in the right direction, everyone is very motivated to try and get this project started. So, every day we are learning and learning a lot.

Team-by-team:

McLaren - 149 laps (Norris)
Ferrari - 139 laps (Leclerc)
Racing Bulls - 133 laps (Lawson 50, Lindblad 83)
Haas - 130 laps (Bearman)
Williams - 131 laps (Albon 62, Sainz 69)
Audi - 114 laps (Hulkenberg 47, Bortoleto 67)
Cadillac - 109 laps (Perez 42, Bottas 67)
Aston Martin - 98 laps (Alonso)
Alpine - 97 laps (Gasly)
Red Bull - 87 laps (Hadjar)
Mercedes - 57 laps (Antonelli 3, Russell 54)

PU manufacturer:

Mercedes - 434
Ferrari - 248
Red Bull Powertrains - 220 
Audi - 114
Honda - 98

We are once again cycling through some FIA system checks as we enter the final 10 minutes of the day. We have a Virtual Safety Car, followed by a Red Flag. 

Valtteri Bottas is the latest driver to make a move up the leaderboard. The returning Finn jumps up to eighth in his Cadillac with a 1m36.824s. 

Isack Hadjar improves with a 1m36.561s on soft tyres to put his Red Bull fifth. The Frenchman shuffles Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi down to P6 in the process. 

Former Alpine driver Jack Doohan is in Bahrain in his new role as Haas's reserve for the 2026 F1 season. Here's a look at him in his new colours. 

Oh you tease, Ollie Bearman. The Haas driver just went purple, purple in the first two sectors but does not set a new fastest lap with only a personal best in the third sector. 

That puts the young Briton back up to third ahead of George Russell but he is still more than a second off the fastest time set by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. 

It's been another strong day for Haas, with Bearman completing 122 laps and counting. 

This is the aforementioned Turn 10 that is catching everyone out in the windy and gusty conditions in Bahrain.

George Russell has reclaimed third place back from Ollie Bearman with a 1m35.466s. 

Bit of a lock up for George Russell into Turn 10 as the Mercedes driver has an off-track adventure at a corner that has become notoriously tricky in this new generation of F1 car. 

We've just seen some overtaking action on the back straight as Charles Leclerc caught and swept past former teammate and now Williams driver Carlos Sainz. 

Sainz looked to have a run on Leclerc down the main start-finish straight, but thought better of it when we got to Turn 1. 

This is a great opportunity for drivers and teams to practice racing scenarios and play with the new tools at their disposal, such as Overtake Mode. 

Ollie Bearman has just moved up to third place in the timesheets with a 1m35.821s. 

Ferrari and Leclerc continue to lead the way as the final hour of Thursday's running approaches. 

Hadjar and Red Bull have done a solid job this afternoon. He's currently eighth with 58 laps on the board. 

Not been a hugely productive afternoon session for Mercedes and Russell. He's only done 27 laps, according to the timing screens. 

At least Mercedes can take some heart that it does have a reliable power unit, given the miles McLaren has achieved today. 

Valtteri Bottas between runs earlier today... or maybe he's checked what the Finland v Slovakia score was again from the Winter Olympics. 

Bearman has pitted now, so Norris officially leads in terms of laps at 105. 

Norris is closing in on Bearman's lap count. He's at 102 currently in the McLaren.