Testing report

F1 2026 Bahrain pre-season test: George Russell even faster as Cadillac causes red flag

George Russell set the fastest time of the week so far on a tough Friday morning for Cadillac

George Russell topped the final morning session of Formula 1’s first Bahrain pre-season test, leading Lewis Hamilton.

Russell set the fastest time of the week so far less than half an hour into Friday’s running, with a 1m34.075s on soft tyres. Thirty minutes later, the Mercedes driver improved his own benchmark to a 1m33.918s, precisely as Ferrari’s Hamilton set a 1m34.209s.

Nobody else lapped any quicker than 1m35s, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull in 1m35.341s, followed by Haas’ Oliver Bearman in 1m35.972s and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 1m36.390s.

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Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz took sixth and seventh for Alpine and Williams, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson half a tenth slower than the Spaniard after using exclusively medium tyres over his 84 laps this morning – more mileage than anyone.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who ran almost exclusively on the hard compound before a late run on softs, led Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The Canadian was 4.5 seconds off the pace, which ironically is precisely what he said the AMR26 was lacking in performance.

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

After Cadillac caused an early red flag on Thursday when Sergio Perez stopped on track – though its yet-to-be-named car went on to complete a 105-lap day – Valtteri Bottas managed just eight laps this morning before suffering the same fate.

It took nearly two hours for Cadillac to sort the issue. The Finnish veteran was able to cover 37 laps, but still propped up the time sheet.

F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 3 morning results

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	BEST LAP	GAP	LAPS
1	Russell	Mercedes	1:33.918		78
2	Hamilton	Ferrari	1:34.209	+00.291	69
3	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:35.341	+01.423	61
4	Bearman	Haas	1:35.972	+02.054	70
5	Piastri	McLaren	1:36.390	+02.472	73
6	Colapinto	Alpine	1:36.874	+02.956	64
7	Sainz	Williams	1:37.186	+03.268	68
8	Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:37.238	+03.320	84
9	Bortoleto	Audi	1:38.251	+04.333	60
10	Stroll	Aston Martin	1:38.423	+04.505	54
11	Bottas	Cadillac	1:38.772	+04.854	37