F1 Testing Results: Bahrain timesheets as Aston Martin fall into another nightmare

Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey are pictured to a background of the 2026 Aston Martin F1 car — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Testing 2026

F1 Testing Results: Bahrain timesheets as Aston Martin fall into another nightmare

All the times from Bahrain

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 19 February 2026 17:00 Updated: 11:19

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Aston Martin's F1 testing escapades went from bad to worse during Thursday's running in Bahrain.

In the afternoon, Fernando Alonso was forced to abort his race run and stopped on track due to a power unit issue.

Alonso only got 26 laps into his race simulation, but even on the hard tyres was lapping in the 1:42s (for context Hamilton was lapping in the 1:36s on the hard tyres during his race run). With 80 minutes remaining in the session the Aston Martin pit wall was eerily empty, ending any hopes that Alonso would return to running on Thursday afternoon.

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Nevertheless, Hamilton was also blighted with technical issues on Thursday and was stuck in the garage for two and a half hours in the morning and emerged with only five laps to his name.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur confirmed after the session that they had encountered a 'small issue' and they were 'preparing parts for Melbourne' which they were 'short' on.

Sky Sports' Bernie Collins also added on Hamilton: "There looks to have been an issue on the rear brake ducts. They took both rear corner drums off, and they seem to be looking intently at that, and have replaced them on both sides.

"They seem to have decided there’s no more time for long runs. They’ve tipped the car up and appear to be draining the fuel out of it, and will maybe try to get some low-fuel qualifying runs in."

In the afternoon however, Hamilton clocked up significant mileage and used the final hour of testing to push his SF-26 to set a time of 1:33.408.

Elsewhere on the track, Max Verstappen returned to the RB22 after sitting out of Wednesday's sessions, setting the third fastest time of a 1:33.162.

It was Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli who topped the timesheets however, with a impressive 1:32.803.

Mercedes once again looked as cool as a cucumber, and were already practicing their pit stops on George Russell's car in the morning, even testing the eventuality of a five-second time penalty. A sure sign their testing run-plan has been a success.

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton questioned as Ferrari take advantage of 2026 'loophole'

F1 Testing Results - Bahrain Week Two - Day Two

F1 Pre-season testing results: Day two
Position	Driver	Team	Time	Laps completed
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:32.803	79 laps
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:32.861	86 laps
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:33.162	139 laps
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:33.408	78 laps
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:33.453	72 laps
6	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:33.818	120 laps
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:33.987	73 laps
8	George Russell	Mercedes	1:34.111	77 laps
9	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1:34.201	58 laps
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	1:34.532	106 laps
11	Alex Albon	Williams	1:34.555	117 laps
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:35.263	29 laps
13	Ollie Bearman	Haas	1:35.279	69 laps
14	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:35.369	50 laps
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:37.472	68 laps
16	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:40.193	58 laps

Who's driving for the F1 teams in Bahrain?

Bahrain F1 Testing Lineup
Team	Wed AM	Wed PM	Thu AM	Thu PM	Fri AM	Fri PM
McLaren	Lando Norris	Oscar Piastri	Lando Norris	Oscar Piastri	Oscar Piastri	Lando Norris
Mercedes	Kimi Antonelli	George Russell	George Russell	Kimi Antonelli	Kimi Antonelli	George Russell
Red Bull	Isack Hadjar	Isack Hadjar	Max Verstappen	Max Verstappen	Isack Hadjar	Max Verstappen
Ferrari	Charles Leclerc	Lewis Hamilton	TBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
Williams	Alex Albon	Carlos Sainz	Alex Albon	Alex Albon	Carlos Sainz	Carlos Sainz
Racing Bulls	Arvid Lindblad	Liam Lawson	Liam Lawson	Liam Lawson	Arvid Lindblad	Arvid Lindblad
Aston Martin	Lance Stroll	Fernando Alonso	Fernando Alonso	Fernando Alonso	Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll
Haas	Esteban Ocon	Oliver Bearman	Oliver Bearman	Esteban Ocon	Esteban Ocon	Oliver Bearman
Audi	Nico Hulkenberg	Gabriel Bortoleto	Gabriel Bortoleto	Nico Hulkenberg	Nico Hulkenberg	Gabriel Bortoleto
Alpine	Franco Colapinto	Pierre Gasly	Pierre Gasly	Pierre Gasly	Franco Colapinto	Franco Colapinto
Cadillac	Sergio Perez	Valtteri Bottas	Valtteri Bottas	Sergio Perez	Sergio Perez	Valtteri Bottas

When does the 2026 F1 season start?

After the first round of pre-season tests in Bahrain took place between February 11 and 13, the second round continues this week between February 18 and February 20.

All 11 teams will then be back in action when the 2026 season starts in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. The first race of the year takes place on March 8 at 3pm local time (AEDT), 4am GMT, and 11pm ET.

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Aston Martin Fernando Alonso pre-season testing F1 Results