Russell quickest as pre-season testing concludes

George Russell posts the quickest time, but Carlos Sainz quickest overall as pre-season testing comes to an end.

While in no way wishing to see Bahrain hit by a plague of frogs or locusts, one has to admit that such a thing wouldn’t be totally out of place considering some of the red flag incidents we’ve witnessed over the last three days.

First there was the blackout on Wednesday, then, this morning, a stone – believed to have been thrown up by Oliver Bearman’s Haas – shattered the glass in the starting gantry on the pit straight. The session resumed only to be stopped again when a marshal went missing leaving his post under-manned. Then, just minutes into this afternoon’s session, out came the reds when a bus took a wrong turn and ended up on the service road beside the track.

The ‘strange days’ vibes continued when Lance Stroll – who missed pre-season testing in 2023 after injuring his hand in a cycling accident – reported unwell this morning meaning that teammate Fernando Alonso had to take over. The Canadian completed 34 laps in the afternoon before admitting defeat and handing the car back to the Spaniard.

Then again, with the Silverstone-based outfit not looking to have improved on its 2024 form – far from it in fact – perhaps Alonso might consider getting a sick note from his doctor until Adrian Newey is fully installed.

In many ways, that, the errant bus and stone was the only drama of the day as the teams wrapped up a busy but largely uneventful test.

While conditions were slightly warmer, a blustery wind caused problems for a number of drivers.

Due to the various unknowns it is nigh impossible to suggest a pecking order, though McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will leave here happy, as will Williams and Alpine.

Red Bull failed to convince, Max Verstappen never looking comfortable in the RB21, though, to be fair, Lewis Hamilton also had his fair share of wobbles, the Briton only completing 47 laps before encountering an issue.

While Charles Leclerc set the pace this morning, after lunch Verstappen – who was on duty all day – wasted no time in going quicker. Alex Albon – also on duty for the entire day -subsequently went quicker only for the Dutchman to improve once again.

George Russell’s timesheet-topping lap came just seven minutes before the end of the session, though fell short of Carlos Sainz’ best from yesterday, and even failed to eclipse that of his former Mercedes teammate.

“We’ve had three rather unusual testing days here,” admitted Pirelli’s Mario Isola. “For years now, Formula 1 has chosen this circuit for the only pre-season test because the weather is usually very favourable, but that was not the case this week, especially the first two days. Low temperatures, considerably lower than at this time of year in previous years, and strong wind affected the teams’ work and made it even harder than usual to interpret the results, with no previous reference points on this track at such low temperatures.

“From our side, the most data came from the C3 and the C2 and, slightly less so from the C1: that was entirely to be expected, given that these are the compounds usually chosen for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Only a few laps were completed with the C4, while the C5 and C6 never appeared on track, to be expected as only Ferrari and Williams had opted to include these in their allocation. From what we could see, the C2 behaved as expected, confirming that it was further from the C1 than last year and therefore closer to the C3. The hardest compound struggled a bit in these temperatures, while the C3 proved to be the most versatile of the range.

“We did not see any real performance runs, which would have allowed us to fully evaluate the performance difference between the compounds. As for degradation of the three hardest compounds, it’s clear that because of the low temperatures, it was minimal, even if it increased slightly today when it was a bit warmer, but not in any significant fashion. Now we head home with plenty of data to study as we prepare for the opening round of the season. In Melbourne, we will bring the same compounds in terms of nomenclature, as last year, namely the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft, so we will have a first meaningful look at the softer compounds.”

“We’ve had a solid three days of pre-season testing,” said Andy Shovelin. “The team has worked hard over the winter to improve on the weaknesses of the W15 and, from the initial signs, we seem to have made good steps in those areas with our 2025 challenger. Despite a few red flag interruptions and some rain, we’ve managed to get through most of the programme. It is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth that we were able to complete the most laps of any team over the course of the test.

“Over the next week, we will pick through that data to assess areas of improvement and to bring the most effective race car we can for the first race in Melbourne in two weeks’ time. It is of course far too early to make an accurate prediction of the competitive order. However, we can be pleased with how the test has gone and look forward to heading to Australia to begin the season.”

“We’ve had a productive three days here,” added Russell. “The team at Brackley, Brixworth, and here trackside have done a great job to have us ready for the test and rack up a significant amount of mileage. We’ve had a seamless three days, and the car is running well.

“It is no surprise to see some of our competitors, particularly McLaren, looking strong. We’ve compiled significant data and knowledge which gives the opportunity to find further improvements ahead of Melbourne. Kimi and I will be in the factory next week, driving on the simulator, and everyone will be pushing flat out to ensure we bring our best to Australia. I can’t wait to get started!”

“It’s been a positive test,” said Kimi Antonelli, “and we’ve built our knowledge of the W16 with plenty of running.

“There were a few interruptions and red flags that delayed our programme, but we got through everything we wanted to. The conditions have also been mixed, with cold and windy conditions particularly on the first two days. That has made it even more difficult than usual to get an idea of the competitive order, but we have just focused on our own work and are pleased with what we’ve achieved. We can now go away, look through the data and continue to work on how we can bring the best race car possible to the first race in Melbourne in two weeks’ time.

“From my own perspective, I’ve enjoyed getting out on track for the first time as a Mercedes works driver. It’s been good to continue building my experience of working with the team and furthering my preparations for my rookie season. I’m excited to get to Melbourne now and get the season properly underway.”

“I think we had a decent day today,” said Verstappen, “there were a few little problems but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do.

“I think it wasn’t bad but at the same time there is still a bit of work to do. However, it is what we expected and we will keep on working and keep on trying to improve and hopefully, as we go into Melbourne, we will learn a bit more by going through all the data and see where we are at.

“It is difficult to tell where everyone’s pace is, so there is still a bit of work to do for us. We are looking forward to starting racing properly again in Australia.”

“It was not as smooth a test as we expected and the team expected,” admitted technical director, Pierre Wache, “but it is better to find some problems here than later down the line and it is why we are here, to understand the car.

“The weather was not with us and not very representative of this track, but we tried to explore the potential of the car and tried to understand how it responds to different set-ups, and I think we more or less achieved that.

“I think it’s very difficult to see a starting order for Melbourne across the grid right now, you see that four teams look quite quick, including us, but we didn’t look too much at other teams, we tried to focus on our programme. I am not as happy as I could be because the car did not respond how we wanted at times, but it is going in the right direction, just maybe the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected and it’s something we need to work on for the first race and future development.”

“I think it was a productive three days,” said Oscar Piastri. “We tried a lot of things and learnt a lot. Some things felt quite good, others still need improvement but working through this is exactly what testing is for. The car ran pretty much faultlessly, which was a good place to be starting from. We’ve got a lot to review before Melbourne, but I think we’re going into it in decent shape.”

“Much trickier conditions on track this morning with the wind and temperature,” added Norris. “Once I was comfortable, we were able to work through our plan and collect more data. We’ll now put it all together and look through everything we’ve completed over the last few days to make sure we’re ready for Melbourne.”

“The end of three productive days here,” said Andrea Stella. “We completed our aero tests this morning, before giving both Lando and Oscar a chance for some runs to allow them to gain insight into the capabilities of the car before we head to Australia.

“We also took the opportunity to make some further set-up changes as we continue to learn about the characteristics of the MCL39. The team here and in Woking have done a great job of bringing our new car to the track and allowing us to maximise all of the time available to us this week. We have plenty to analyse and work on before the first race of the season in two weeks’ time.”

Check out our gallery from Bahrain, here.