Day 1 of second F1 2026 Bahrain pre-season testing as it happened

The first day of running in Bahrain is done and dusted, with Mercedes leading the way while its rivals ran into problems. 

Thanks for joining us and be sure to be back here when we resume our live coverage at 6.30am UK time on Thursday for all the action from day two. 

It's lights out and away we go! A pretty good start all round. 

This is going to plan so far. After the 10 cars lined up on the grid, we have been given notice of an extra formation lap ahead of the standing start practice. 

We have 10 cars heading out on track for the practice start procedure. Only Lance Stroll's Aston Martin is missing. 

We are now cycling through the FIA's system tests, including the longer race start procedure. So we shall see how that goes.

Isack Hadjar has just passed Lewis Hamilton on the run to Turn 4, with both drivers on a long run and Hamilton on much older tyres. 

George Russell had been on for his best lap of the day, having gone fastest of anyone in the first sector, but the Mercedes driver locks up and runs deep at Turn 10!

That ruins any chance of Russell snatching the quickest lap of the day from Oscar Piastri. The Briton threw his hand up in frustration after failing to make the corner. 

After being stuck in the garage for a large chunk of the afternoon, Lewis Hamilton is finally back out in the Ferrari as he looks to add to his tally of 24 laps. 

The FIA will evaluate a new longer race start procedure sequence at the end of today's running in response to safety concerns. 

"At approximately 18:50 a red flag will be shown and all cars will return to the pit lane," the FIA explained. "The cars will then complete a formation lap, followed by an additional formation lap, before lining up on the grid for a simulated race start.

"Once all cars are in position, a new Pre-Start Warning will begin: all grid panels will flash blue for 5 seconds. After the blue warning ends, the usual start sequence will begin."

Isack Hadjar looks like he could be on to challenge for the fastest time after going purple in sector one, but the Red Bull driver's lap fades away. 

It is still an improvement that sees Hadjar go sixth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but the Frenchman is 0.791s off the pace. 

Lance Stroll is finally back out lapping in the Aston Martin after his earlier spin into the gravel at Turn 11, which caused a red flag.

Here are the current lap totals of the drivers taking part in the afternoon session 

George Russell (Mercedes) - 45

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 40

Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) - 40

Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 39

Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) - 37

Franco Colapinto (Alpine) - 33

Carlos Sainz (Williams) - 31

Oliver Bearman (Haas) - 25

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 24

Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) - 17

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 7

Franco Colapinto slightly improves his best time but the Alpine driver stays ninth. 

Just Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Valtteri Bottas on track at the moment. 

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar has improved on his time and moved up to seventh, one second off the pace. 

It seems as though Ferrari may have run into its first major issue of pre-season testing. 

Lewis Hamilton has been stuck in the garage for a little while now and the screens are up. That's usually a sign of significant work being carried out. 

There's less than two hours remaining in the afternoon session. 

George Russell shoots up to third on a 1m33.748s, putting the Mercedes driver 0.279s off the new pacesetter. 

Another update from today's F1 Commission meeting is that there have been talks about potentially doubling the amount of sprint weekends from six to 12. 

"There were discussions around the possibility of increasing the Sprint events up to 12 based on the demand for Sprints from fans and promoters," the FIA said.