Antonelli posts the fastest lap of the week while Aston Martin’s struggles deepen, and Hamilton stops late on the track.
Kimi Antonelli clocked a 1:33.669 on Friday afternoon to give Mercedes the quickest time of the entire first pre-season test, but almost nobody in the paddock believes it tells the real story.
Visit chickenroadslot.lat for more information.
The 19-year-old Italian, who’d managed just three laps on Day 2 of F1 testing before an engine failure, bounced back to go a quarter of a second faster than teammate George Russell. Together, they gave Mercedes a 1-2 on the final timesheets. Hamilton finished third in the Ferrari, with Oscar Piastri fourth for McLaren and Max Verstappen fifth in the Red Bull.
But the real narrative of Day 3 wasn’t who topped the timing screens. It was those who sounded the alarm, who threw their gloves, and who may have already fallen behind before the season even starts.
Also Read:: F1 Fan’s Guide to the 2026 Shake-Up: Biggest Changes in Over a Decade
Russell Admits F1 Testing in Bahrain Was a Wake-up Call
For a team that locked out the top two spots, Mercedes’ mood during this first F1 testing week was surprisingly subdued. Russell, who topped the morning session with a 1:33.918 before handing over to Antonelli, didn’t try to sugarcoat things.
“I do think this test has been a bit of a reality check for all of us,” Russell said. “Barcelona was very smooth, and probably smoother than we actually anticipated, in terms of reliability, in terms of performance. We’ve got to Bahrain and in both regards we’ve taken a step back.”
The Briton went further when asked about the competitive order. He pointed directly at Red Bull.
“Red Bull in Barcelona, day one, hit the ground running, we’re well ahead of all of their competitors — ourselves, Ferrari, and the others. Day one here in Bahrain, again, they sort of looked on par. At the moment, they’re very much the team to beat.”
That’s a notable admission from a team most rivals believe is hiding its true pace. Verstappen accused Mercedes of extreme sandbagging earlier in the week. When asked about Toto Wolff’s claims that the Red Bull engine is the class of the field, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar pushed back.
“It’s not only about the engine,” Hadjar told Sky Sports F1.
Aston Martin: Where Did the Newey Magic Go?
If there was a single team that came into 2026 F1 testing with higher expectations than their results have delivered, it’s Aston Martin. The AMR26 is the first car Adrian Newey has designed since leaving Red Bull and taking over as team principal at Aston Martin. It was supposed to be a statement. So far, it’s been a struggle.
Lance Stroll did not hold back on Day 2.
“Right now, we look like we’re four seconds off the top teams, four and a half seconds,” he said. “Impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running, but, yeah, now we need to try and find four seconds of performance.”
That is an enormous gap. To put it in perspective for newer fans, a single second separates the best cars from the midfield in a normal season. Four seconds is another league entirely.
Stroll pointed to the issues being “a combination of things: engine, balance, grip,” which pretty much covers every aspect of an F1 car. The Honda power unit Aston Martin is running for the first time added another layer of complexity. A data anomaly with the engine limited Stroll to just 36 laps on Day 1. Newey himself admitted before Bahrain that the team was several months behind its rivals, largely because Aston Martin’s wind tunnel wasn’t operational until last April.
Fernando Alonso, the two-time champion who took the wheel for Day 2 and part of Day 3, was visibly frustrated. Spanish broadcaster Antonio Lobato posted a photo on Instagram of Alonso in the cockpit after his Thursday stint, writing that the Spaniard threw his gloves down upon climbing out of the car. Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack summed up the mood plainly: “We have to play catch up, we have to work hard, we’re a little bit off the pace. We have to be honest with ourselves.”
But Alonso, as only Alonso can, framed the broader situation with some dry humor. Responding to Verstappen’s blunt criticism of the 2026 regulations,.
“I understand Max’s comments because, from a driver, you would like to make a difference in the corner, driving 5kph faster, but now you are dictated by how much energy your engine will have on the next straight,” Alonso said.
Then he twisted the knife — gently.
“But at the same time this is Formula 1 and it has always been like that. Now it’s the energy. Last year or two years ago when he won all the races it was the downforce. He could go in the corners at 280kph and we could go in the corners at 250kph because we didn’t have the downforce.”
Energy is the new downforce. That line deserves a T-shirt.
Hamilton Stops on Track, But Ferrari Stays Calm
Lewis Hamilton caused a late red flag when his Ferrari ground to a halt with about 10 minutes left on the clock. The session did resume. Before the stoppage, he’d been running a race simulation: a long stint on hard tires following 19 laps on softs. Hamilton had been among the most productive drivers on track all day. Ferrari, notably, had the best reliability record of any team during the first two days of F1 testing, so the late hiccup stands out.
Still, the numbers across the three days are positive for the Scuderia. Charles Leclerc racked up 219 total laps, more than anyone, and posted the fastest individual time of the test on Day 2. Hamilton’s Day 3 pace suggests the SF-26 has genuine speed, too.
What to Watch Heading Into Test 2
The first F1 testing in Bahrain test is done. Teams head home to dig through their data before returning to the same circuit February 18-20 for the second and final pre-season test.
Here’s the short version of what matters heading into that week: Mercedes topped the timesheets, but their own driver called it a reality check. Red Bull’s engine continues to impress, even as the team downplays expectations. Ferrari and McLaren have been the most consistently quick and reliable outfits across all three days. And Aston Martin has serious ground to make up — four seconds of it, if Stroll’s assessment is anywhere close to accurate.
The season opener in Melbourne is March 8. That’s three weeks away. For some teams, it feels like a lifetime. For others, it can’t come soon enough.
Related Headlines
Read full story at source
