F1 Bahrain pre-season testing live commentary and updates - day 3
Follow along for updates on the final day of F1's first 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain
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With that, we'll wrap up this live coverage of the first Bahrain F1 test, thanks for sharing it with us - it's been fun. We're back with full coverage of the second and final Bahrain test on 18-20 February, with track action beginning at 7am GMT. Go well!
So, who do you think 'won' that test? Was it Mercedes with the best lap times? Was it Red Bull with its early impressive pace and energy deployment? Was it Ferrari with a handy show of race pace on Thursday and Friday?
Well, that was an eventful final 10 minutes. Hamilton pulls to the side of the track in his Ferrari, Colapinto almost crashes on his way to the grid and then has to stop at Turn 1. Who said testing was boring?
At the end of all that Antonelli tops the first Bahrain test in a Mercedes 1-2.
Woah! Colapinto, doing burnouts on the way to the grid, comes so close to crashing his car into the wall. The Alpine driver gets his car stopped in time before it hits the barrier, with two wheels on the grass. His start on the grid is duly aborted and his car goes into anti-stall, forcing him to park it at Turn 1.
Practice starts on the grid are the final order of the day. But not before an aborted start and an extra formation lap is simulated.
The track returns green but Perez cannot get going and his Cadillac flashes yellow. Most of the drivers are able to drive around him but Hadjar is stuck right behind him without enough turning space to get around him. Thankfully the drama (well, practice drama) is solved as Perez gets his car going and pulls off to free the Red Bull behind.
And on to a red flag test, as the red flag is shown despite no clear issues. So all the cars return to the pits and most head to the end of the pitlane to prepare for a restart.
Well, green-ish, as a virtual safety car test and then a full safety car test is being completed now. Lots of cars on track to oblige in the activity and it gives a good opportunity to run through restart procedures.
It feels like a long time since we've seen it, but it could be a 'run to empty' test which means the driver runs in the car until it literally runs out of fuel. The onboard replay didn't really indicate anything wrong, it just ground to a halt after Hamilton moved off track at the exit of Turn 5.
Anyway, it is a quick removal and the green flag action returns with seven minutes to go.
Hamilton has come to a halt at Turn 8 and the hazard lights on his Ferrari are flashing to indicate the car has an issue. That brings out the red flag, as Hamilton begins to climb out of the car.
I'm sorry to report the live timing has frozen, both here and from source at the track, so we're flying a little blind. I've nudged someone to put a quid in the meter.
Hadjar takes a trip through the Mercedes pitbox for an awkward moment with the mechanics who wave him through as they were waiting for Antonelli to arrive just behind him. No harm done, as the French driver trundles along a little further to find the Red Bull pits.
Piastri pits to end his long stint on the hard tyres and that concludes his race sim and programme for the day. The Australia has clocked up 161 laps today which is close to three race distances of a Bahrain GP. He needs to make sure his head doesn't fall off when he gets out of the car - his neck is going to be in bits.
It should be noted that Hamilton on his race run for Ferrari has looked to have the legs on the likes of Piastri for McLaren and Antonelli for Mercedes. The details will be verified at the end of the day, but it has looked pretty strong overall for the British driver, just as it did for Leclerc yesterday.
Hulkenberg lifts his Audi up to 10th with a 1m36.291s on a fresh set of C3s, while Stroll goes 15th with a 1m38.165s using the same compound of tyre.
Piastri locks up and runs deep into Turn 1, which explains why he lost about three seconds on his last lap. Driver error or are those hards crying enough after 15 laps? It hasn't impacted the Australian too much as he is immediately back into the 1m39s.
Hamilton pits from an 18-lap hard tyre run and switches to the mediums for the final stint of his race sim. Piastri should be coming in shortly as he completes his 14th lap on the hards, while Antonelli is only seven laps into his set of hards.
Stroll has missed a lot of the afternoon session with an unspecified issue with his Aston Martin, but he is heading back out on track with just under 45 minutes to go. Aston really need the mileage before the end of the day to collect all the data it can to prepare for the second test. Remember, as Honda's only team they only have this car to gain data from.
Antonelli is also on a long run using the hard tyres - so out there is a Mercedes, a Ferrari and a McLaren all running a long stint on the same compound of tyre. Handy.
Piastri divebombs Perez! OK, not quite as dramatic as that, but the McLaren driver overtakes the Cadillac up the inside into the hairpin on his race simulation.
As everyone turns their TVs on, Hadjar has nipped out on some fresh C3s and he goes up one place to sixth with a 1m35.610s. Colapinto has also improved with a 1m36.401s in ninth for Alpine.
Piastri pits on 22-lap old mediums with his pace hovering in the high 1m39s for the second half of that stint and the McLaren driver returns to the track on fresh mediums.
Hamilton is effectively seven laps ahead of the Australian, as he is seven laps into his own hard tyre stint.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
'Lotus109 Thanks for answer - follow-up question: is everyone but Merc sandbagging in the hope that it will influence the FIA to clip Merc’s wings (or cylinder heads anyway)'
Honestly, it very hard to say at this stage as we do not know each and every engine mode used by each team. There is a good chance all teams are not revealing their ultimate pace, but perhaps others are doing it more than the rest. Regardless, the FIA will be on top of it as they are able to assess all the data from the teams.
The Ferrari driver is on a race run, currently on C3 softs and after 19 laps Hamilton pits and returns on a fresh set of C1 hard tyres. Meanwhile Piastri at McLaren is also on a long run on the C2 mediums, lapping in the high 1m39s.
Hamilton is back out on track for Ferrari and is quietly going about his business lapping around the 1m40s - up to 110 laps for the day. All this talk of sandbagging, energy and engines hasn't really involved Ferrari at this stage, they've been largely quiet and focused on themselves. Not a bad strategy at this stage with the various favourite-tagging and politicking going around.
Alonso has just spoken to the media and made some interesting comments in reaction to Verstappen's slating of the new cars and regs.
"I understand Max's comments because from a driver you would like to make the 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.
"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. Thoughts?
Antonelli likes the look of the timing screen right now...
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Antonelli goes purple on sector two, but doesn't improve in sector three, but it is enough to improve on his overall best with a 1m33.669s set on the softs. Maybe we are starting to see a bit of performance running from the Mercedes...
Hulkenberg has popped his Audi up to ninth on the times with a 1m36.828s, while Antonelli has gone quickest of anyone in the first sector again...
Antonelli must read this while he is driving as he has taken on the challenge to go fastest and does so by 0.018s over Mercedes team-mate Russell's earlier leading lap time. The Italian's 1m33.900s is the new standard.
'Lotus109: OK so is Red Bull sandbagging today after everyone was raving about their deployment yesterday?'
As referenced earlier, Red Bull's Pierre Wache says it is behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren according to the team's own analysis, while Verstappen is convinced Mercedes is sandbagging. The question is, who has the heaviest sandbags?
Just two hours to go in this first Bahrain pre-season test. It is unlikely we'll see a glory run but will anyone fancy it to topple Russell from the headline time?
Down at Ferrari, there's a bit of tinkering with the front end on Hamilton's car. The mechanics are also refreshing the 'speed tape' around the points at which the bodywork meets. Hamilton has just got out of the car in the meantime.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Mario Renzi / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Speaking of not missing things, Antonelli has zipped up to third on the timing screen with a 1m34.491s on the soft tyres. Just the 0.573s to find to match Russell.
Just in case you missed what happened yesterday at F1 testing, here's a handy round-up of what you need to know:
Watch: Autosport Explains: F1 Testing Day 2
Piastri has picked up the pace with a 1m34.549s which keeps him third but moves to 0.631s off the outright top time. Hadjar has also improved with a 1m35.976s to go sixth.
By: Autosport staff
