Kimi Antonelli went quickest on the penultimate day of Formula 1’s pre-season testing in Bahrain on Thursday.
The Mercedes driver set the best time so far for 2026-spec machinery at the Sakhir track, going over six tenths faster than anyone prior to today, with a 1m32.803s – narrowly quicker than Oscar Piastri.
McLaren and Red Bull traded fastest laps during most of the day, with Mercedes occasionally joining the fray. It only took a few minutes for Lando Norris to set a first decent benchmark in 1m34.625s, subsequently outpaced by Max Verstappen by just 0.005s.
Norris responded with a 1m33.453s that was 0.006s quicker than George Russell’s Wednesday reference, which Verstappen got close to but failed to match in the morning session – the Dutchman set a 1m33.584s.
In the afternoon, Verstappen did snatch the top spot away from McLaren for a while, setting a 1m33.444s on prototype Pirelli rubber before improving to a 1m33.162s with the C3 compound.
Piastri had taken the MCL40 over from Norris and achieved a 1m33.624s on C2 tyres. The Australian went on to set a 1m32.861s shortly after 6pm local time with C3 rubber, but Antonelli immediately outpaced him in 1m32.803s.
McLaren and Mercedes also had the most productive day mileage-wise, with 158 and 156 laps respectively, while Verstappen topped the chart for drivers with 139 tours.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Ferrari came next amid a troubled day. Lewis Hamilton completed five laps in the first 30 minutes but spent the remainder of the morning session in the garage due to an unspecified issue.
The seven-time world champion went on to have a 78-lap day. He set a 1m33.928s, running wide in Turn 10; on a subsequent run, he was 0.451s down on Antonelli after sector two but went wide again in the last corner and pitted immediately. He eventually put a decent lap together in 1m33.689s with C3 tyres and went on to improve to a 1m33.408s.
Alpine topped the midfield, as a glory run by Franco Colapinto with C5 tyres – the softest in Pirelli’s range – yielded a 1m33.818s. Earlier, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg set the first sub-1m34s lap by a midfield team in 1m33.987s with the C4 compound, on an encouraging day despite over two hours in the garage this morning as the team investigated a hydraulics issue.
Haas had the seventh-fastest car today, but Esteban Ocon’s quickest lap was just 1.4s slower than Antonelli’s benchmark.
Racing Bulls followed three further tenths away, with its car having also spent some two hours in the garage this morning, which didn’t prevent Liam Lawson from completing 106 laps. Williams’ Alex Albon was 0.023s down on Lawson with an even better tally of 117 laps, despite not running in the first 90 minutes of the afternoon session.
The remaining two cars were some way adrift. Like yesterday, Cadillac spent the first third of the morning and afternoon sessions in the garage; Sergio Perez set the new team’s fastest time in 1m35.369s, 2.6s down on Antonelli and 0.8s away from the back of the midfield.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Aston Martin arguably had the worst day of all, after on Wednesday the team spent four hours in the garage due to a power unit issue before causing a red flag when Lance Stroll strangely spun into the gravel trap.
The AMR26 caused another interruption early on Thursday afternoon as Fernando Alonso stopped on track with apparent technical gremlins. The two-time F1 champion completed 68 laps, but all other teams – but Ferrari – have collected more than 100 tours’ worth of data, and Alonso still was 4.669s off the pace.
Two race start trials took place today amid well-documented concerns. At the end of the morning session, four cars participated, with Ferrari’s Hamilton taking a noticeably better getaway than anyone else, as McLaren’s Norris struggled to get off the line.
The other simulation, which concluded the day, involved all cars but the Aston and the Audi. Again, Hamilton seemingly enjoyed the best launch.
F1 Bahrain pre-season testing – Day 5 results
| Pos | Driver | Car / Engine | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1’32.803 | 79 | |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren / Mercedes | 1’32.861 | 0.058 | 86 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull / Red Bull Ford | 1’33.162 | 0.359 | 139 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1’33.408 | 0.605 | 78 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren / Mercedes | 1’33.453 | 0.650 | 72 |
| 6 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine / Mercedes | 1’33.818 | 1.015 | 120 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 1’33.987 | 1.184 | 73 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’34.111 | 1.308 | 77 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Haas / Ferrari | 1’34.201 | 1.398 | 58 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls / Red Bull Ford | 1’34.532 | 1.729 | 106 |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | Williams / Mercedes | 1’34.555 | 1.752 | 117 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1’35.263 | 2.460 | 29 |
| 13 | Oliver Bearman | Haas / Ferrari | 1’35.279 | 2.476 | 69 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac / Ferrari | 1’35.369 | 2.566 | 50 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin / Honda | 1’37.472 | 4.669 | 68 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac / Ferrari | 1’40.193 | 7.390 | 58 |
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– The Autosport.com Team
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