F1 Testing 2026: Bahrain schedule, start times and how to watch it all LIVE today

As the 2026 F1 season draws ever closer, the final pre-season testing event of the year is now under way in Bahrain and today (Friday February 20) is the final day.

After a maximum of six days under the belts of the teams already after an extended testing programme this year due to the wholesale regulation changes, the teams are back out on the track at the Bahrain International Circuit for three days (February 18-20).

Like last week, these three days will have eight hours worth of running for the teams, with the F1 outfits likely to switch more seriously to race runs and qualifying sims.

Reliability has been pretty good across the board so far during pre-season testing, mightily impressive considering how early we are into the new rules, but now fans are looking for clues as to which teams are the fastest on the grid, ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

There are definite teething problems for those new regulations though - and right now top of the list are concerns about the start procedure ahead of the season opener next month.

Mercedes are thought to be the favourites for the championship at this early stage, but both George Russell and Toto Wolff have placed huge attention on Red Bull, who are also looking strong.

There is renewed optimism at Ferrari as well, with the SF-26's ability to brilliantly negotiate that tricky new starting procedure raising a ton of eyebrows.

Lap times during this final three-day testing event will be readily available, and eyes will be glued to the timing screens throughout the week.

But what times are the sessions on, and how can you catch all of the action on live TV?

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Bahrain testing schedule and starting times

Part two of Bahrain started on Wednesday and concludes today (Friday February 20).

Today will again be split into two four-hour sessions with a one-hour lunch break in between. Times for the two sessions each day are as follows:

Morning session: 10am-2pm local time (7am-11am GMT, 8am-noon CET, 2am-6am Eastern).

Afternoon session: 3pm-7pm local time (noon-4pm GMT, 1pm-5pm CET, 7am-11am Eastern).

TV channel and live stream - how to watch live

In the UK, Sky Sports F1 will be showing every minute of pre-season testing action this week, having only broadcast an hour per day during last week's event.

This will be live on F1TV too, while the F1 website is the place to go for live updates on lap times, as well as interviews with various drivers and team bosses.

2026 F1 grid - who is driving in Bahrain testing?

We are expected to have all 11 teams, and all 22 drivers, on track at some stage this week. Williams missed the Barcelona shakedown completely, while Aston Martin and Cadillac were not out on track during Bahrain part one last week as much as they might have liked to have been.

Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and new world champion Lando Norris will all be out on track this week with their respective teams.

One important thing to note here is that teams will only run one car at a time, so sessions will be split between drivers. We will have scenarios where one driver will take the first session and hand over for the second. Or one driver will take both sessions and the other driver will sit out the entire day, before returning on the next day.

When will each each team and their drivers be in action in Bahrain?

So, when will each driver be taking to the track to get further acquainted with their brand new machinery following the 2026 regulation overhaul?

Each team has chosen to either split its driver duo up for the morning and afternoon testing sessions, or dedicate an entire day to each of its drivers. And we now have full details for day three for every single team.

This week's pre-season testing will take place between 10am and 7pm local time (AST) which translates to 7am until 4pm GMT, with the entire three-test being shown live on Sky Sports and F1TV.

Keep an eye on this article for the very latest updates:

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Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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