Bahrain F1 test - Day 2: Leclerc remains fastest from Norris

Charles Leclerc laid down the marker on the second day of Formula 1’s 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain, edging reigning world champion Lando Norris in a session that mixed headline lap times with mechanical headaches and multiple red flags.

Ferrari wasted little time asserting itself on Thursday morning as Leclerc fired in a 1m34.273s on soft tyres – a lap that ultimately stood unbeaten for the remainder of the day.

The benchmark proved 0.511s quicker than Norris’ best effort in the McLaren, which came on medium rubber and followed the team’s day-one pace-setting form.

While Leclerc owned the stopwatch, Norris dominated the distance charts. McLaren’s programme leaned heavily toward long-run simulations, allowing the Briton to rack up an impressive 149 laps — the highest individual tally of the day.

Ferrari was not far behind, with Leclerc completing 139 tours as both teams quietly underlined their early consistency.

Afternoon Disruptions and Red Flags

The post-lunch session was far less serene. Three separate red flags interrupted the flow of running, beginning when Valtteri Bottas shed part of his Cadillac’s right mirror, debris that narrowly missed Carlos Sainz’s Williams.

The stoppage lasted around 10 minutes before action resumed — only for Pierre Gasly’s Alpine to grind to a halt at Turn 1 shortly after.

A final red flag arrived late in the day purely as a procedural test, but Alpine’s earlier issue marked the team’s third red-flag-triggering moment since last month’s Barcelona shakedown, adding unwanted scrutiny to its reliability.

Mercedes and Red Bull Recover from Early Woes

Mercedes endured another shaky morning as Andrea Kimi Antonelli managed just three laps before a power-unit issue curtailed his session.

The narrative shifted after lunch, however, when George Russell climbed to fourth with a 1m35.466s and logged 54 laps – narrowly shy of a Bahrain race distance and only fractions behind Oliver Bearman in third.

Red Bull mirrored that pattern of recovery. Isack Hadjar’s morning was limited to a solitary lap due to a hydraulic leak, but the Frenchman rebounded strongly in the afternoon to post the fifth-quickest time, though still more than two seconds off Leclerc’s benchmark.

Mileage Over Glory

As always in testing, context remains king. Teams balanced tyre compounds, fuel loads and experimental setups, making outright pace an unreliable indicator.

In total team mileage, McLaren led the field ahead of Ferrari, with Racing Bulls, Williams and Haas also surpassing the 130-lap mark. Cadillac rounded out the list of squads breaking the century barrier.

Day two ultimately reinforced a familiar testing truth: speed makes headlines, but endurance builds confidence.

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