The second test week in Bahrain is over! Max Verstappen and company can — after a private shakedown in Barcelona and two three-day tests in Sakhir — get ready for the season opener in Australia. The afternoon session passed without major issues. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari flexed their muscles and posted the fastest time of the week in the notably competitive SF-26. Arvid Lindblad ate up the kilometres for Racing Bulls while Aston Martin called it a day early.
The afternoon session in Bahrain was also the final test session for Max Verstappen, who took over during the lunch break from team-mate Isack Hadjar. The Dutchman ran his own programme, primarily focusing on long runs. Verstappen didn’t cover a huge number of laps, but still ended up third quickest on the day. McLaren also completed relatively few laps, although Lando Norris was stuck in the garage for the first two afternoon hours; the papayas had discovered a cooling-system issue during lunch.
Still, McLaren gathered considerably more data than Aston Martin. The Silverstone outfit bowed out early after Lance Stroll completed only six laps in the ailing AMR26. Reportedly the Honda power unit is causing the main problems. Earlier the Japanese manufacturer had already released a statement: “Our final run with Fernando Alonso on Thursday revealed a battery issue, which affected our test programme,” it said. “Due to this issue and a shortage of engine parts, we adjusted today’s schedule and limited ourselves to short runs.” Aston Martin will have to pull out all the stops in the coming weeks to get the car race-ready for Melbourne.
Ferrari dominant
At Ferrari, things went Charles Leclerc’s way. The Monegasque had already set the fastest time in the morning session, then went quicker again in the afternoon. His 1:32.655 improved the week’s benchmark — and that wasn’t the end of it. In a wheel-to-wheel scrap with Lando Norris, who looked immediately competitive once McLaren sent him out, it felt like they were already running qualifying laps in Bahrain.
Leclerc only truly opened the taps in the final hour of running and became the first driver to go sub-1:32. He also logged a solid number of laps for Ferrari, which enjoyed a dominant closing day at the Bahrain International Circuit. Still, Arvid Lindblad walked away with the most mileage; the Racing Bulls rookie will not be short on preparation. With 164 laps he notably broke the record for the most test laps in a single day.
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