Mercedes F1 star confirms car issue after Bahrain testing struggle

Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, Mercedes, Bahrain, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Testing 2026

Mercedes F1 star confirms car issue after Bahrain testing struggle

Kimi Antonelli caused a red flag on day three

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 21 February 2026 14:52

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Mercedes F1 star Kimi Antonelli has revealed an issue with his car which left him unable to complete his programme during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

At the end of what has been a strong winter for the team in general, Mercedes suffered a disappointing day on Friday, with Antonelli missing over 90 minutes of testing after his Mercedes car came to a halt on the track in the morning session.

The incident caused a red flag, the only red flag of the final day in Bahrain, and Antonelli did not return to the track following the incident.

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His team-mate George Russell did, however, get more laps in with the W16 in the afternoon session, and went on to finish the day fourth in the Bahrain timesheets, behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Now, Antonelli has confirmed that it was an issue with his W16 which saw his day come to an end, and that Mercedes are already working on trying to fix it so that the same issue doesn't occur at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix next month.

"It hasn’t been the smoothest of testing for me in Bahrain," the young Italian told a press conference at the track on Friday.

"But that’s why it’s testing. It’s important to experience these issues now and then be fine for the rest of the season.

"The team has been looking into it and already found the issue and also the way to fix it, so hopefully it will be fine for Australia.

"Other than that, the car has felt pretty good. We’ve done a lot of setup work and the car is giving good feelings.

"The other top teams look pretty good as well. I think the top four are pretty close together and it’s going to be a tight fight."

Who topped the final day of F1 testing?

While Mercedes struggled during the final day of testing in Bahrain, Ferrari finished with a flourish, with Charles Leclerc putting in the fastest time of 2026 pre-season testing with a 1:31.992.

He was almost a second clear of second-place Lando Norris in the McLaren, while Russell was over 1.2 seconds behind Leclerc.

That followed what had been a very positive day for Ferrari on Thursday, when Lewis Hamilton showcased the team's ability to master the starts, with it being believed that Ferrari have a smaller turbo in their power unit which doesn't take as long as some of the other teams' turbos to get spooled up.

Russell has already suggested that starts are a problem Mercedes are desperately trying to address before the Australian Grand Prix in March, and it remains to be seen whether they can get that sorted or not.

Expect the Brackley outfit to be in competition with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari for race victories in the early part of the 2026 season at least.

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