F1 Testing 2026

F1 Testing Results: Bahrain timesheets as Aston Martin complete just TWO laps

Sam Cook Friday 20 February 2026 12:09

Adrian Newey, Aston Martin, Bahrain, 2026

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets in Bahrain during the final morning session of 2026 pre-season testing, but it was the Aston Martin F1 team whose struggles were the focus of the paddock.

Aston Martin did not run until the very end of the morning session, with a statement being released by their power unit manufacturer Honda admitting that a battery issue had been found and that they will only be doing short runs on Friday.

Lance Stroll went out for two untimed laps around the circuit, before coming straight back into the pits, and all of this was during the final 15 minutes of the session, after they had completely sat out the first three hours and 45 minutes.

Elsewhere, Kimi Antonelli finished second in the timesheets, behind Leclerc by over two tenths of a second, before the Italian pulled off to the side of the track due to an unspecified problem for the Mercedes team. The halting of Antonelli's session was understood to be precautionary, however, and George Russell will be back out in the W16 later on Friday.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri rounded out the top three, over six tenths off Leclerc's best time, while it was Esteban Ocon who put in the most laps of any driver, racking up an impressive 82 in total.

Antonelli's incident was the only unplanned red flag of the morning session on day three, meaning the other teams were not disrupted too much in their attempts to get in as many laps as possible on the final day of testing before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

F1 Testing Results - Bahrain Week Two - Day Three

F1 Pre-season testing results: Day three
Position	Driver	Team	Time	Laps completed
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:33.689	80 laps
2	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:33.916	49 laps
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:34.352	66 laps
4	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1:34.494	82 laps
5	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	1:34.511	59 laps
6	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:34.846	57 laps
7	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:35.238	77 laps
8	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:35.252	66 laps
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:36.019	64 laps
10	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:40.842	61 laps
11	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	NO TIME	2 laps

Who's driving for the F1 teams on Friday in Bahrain?

Bahrain F1 Testing Lineup
Team	Fri AM	Fri PM
McLaren	Oscar Piastri	Lando Norris
Mercedes	Kimi Antonelli	George Russell
Red Bull	Isack Hadjar	Max Verstappen
Ferrari	Charles Leclerc	Charles Leclerc
Williams	Carlos Sainz	Carlos Sainz
Racing Bulls	Arvid Lindblad	Arvid Lindblad
Aston Martin	Lance Stroll	Lance Stroll
Haas	Esteban Ocon	Oliver Bearman
Audi	Nico Hulkenberg	Gabriel Bortoleto
Alpine	Franco Colapinto	Franco Colapinto
Cadillac	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.

F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey 2026 regulations pre-season testing