Sainz Snags Test Crown, Russell Rules Day Three In Bahrain

Sakhir’s three-day pre-season test wrapped with Carlos Sainz holding the fastest lap of the week—a 1’29”348 from day two in the Williams—repeating his 2024 feat when he topped it for Ferrari. George Russell stole Friday’s show, though, clocking a 1’29”545 on C3s to edge Max Verstappen’s 1’29”566 by 21 thousandths. Alex Albon’s 1’29”650 on C4s landed him third, capping a top eight from eight teams—Oscar Piastri (1’29”940), Pierre Gasly (1’30”040), Lewis Hamilton (1’30”345), Yuki Tsunoda (1’30”497), and Esteban Ocon (1’30”728) right behind.

The test’s 25 hours saw 3,896 laps—21,090,564 kilometers—across all 20 drivers, but Bahrain’s weather threw a wrench. “We’ve had three rather unusual testing days here in Bahrain,” said 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.”

Tyre data piled up—767 C3 laps, 238 C2s, 210 C1s dominating Thursday alone—but no real hot laps emerged. “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,” Isola said. “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.”

He added, “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, the Australian Grand Prix. 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.”

Day one’s Lando Norris, day two’s Sainz, and Russell on day three—three teams, three leaders—showed a tight field. “We’ve had a productive three days here at pre-season testing in Bahrain,” Russell said. “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!”

Pirelli sticks around Sakhir for 2026 tyre tests March 2-3, with Alpine’s Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa, plus Williams’ Albon and Sainz, set to roll.