Mercedes lay down a marker on Day 2 in Bahrain

A Mercedes driver has once again set the overall fastest time of pre-season testing in Bahrain. For the first time today, every compound in the range was utilised, including the softest C5, which had been requested by only four teams.

At the end of day five, Kimi Antonelli recorded a time of 1:32.803s, beating his teammate George Russell, who had lowered the benchmark for the entire grid yesterday.

In truth, that limit was surpassed by four more drivers today, demonstrating the progress teams have made on track. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) clocked a 1:32.861s, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished in 1:33.162s, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) in 1:33.408 and Lando Norris (McLaren) in 1:33.453s. The last one was the only one in the group to set his time on the C4, while all others used the C3.

In the final hour of the session, Alpine, Cadillac, and Williams each tested the C5 during a run. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) extracted the best potential from the compound with a time of 1:33.818s. Piastri, meanwhile, was the driver who achieved the fastest times on the C1 and C2, with 1:36.576s and 1:33.624s respectively.

Team run plans are now more closely aligned with what was seen on track last week. Teams are working to find the most effective package for their cars, testing new aerodynamic solutions and setups.

Interestingly, some teams are already attempting to identify the delta between different compounds through consecutive performance runs, stepping down the tyre hardness each time.

There was no shortage of long runs, such as Audi’s 23 laps on the C1 or Red Bull’s equal distance on the C2. This morning, Albon also pushed the C4 for 17 laps using a set that had already completed six. The times obtained will be valuable for evaluating the potential use of this compound during future races.

Out of the 1311 laps completed today on a track that reached a peak of 45°C, the C3 was once again the most used compound with 729 laps (55%). This was followed in descending order by the C2, C1, C4, and C5 (with only 12 laps).

Six drivers did not take to the track today: Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Arvin Lindblad (Racing Bulls), and Carlos Sainz (Williams).