The morning session of the second test day is now over! The countdown to the opening weekend in Melbourne is on. But before the fight for the world championship truly kicks off, Max Verstappen and co. get two weeks of running at the Bahrain International Circuit. After the closed shakedown in Barcelona, these tests are open to the public.
The first three-day winter test in Bahrain runs from 11 to 13 February. It’s standard practice for every driver to get one and a half test days; teams decide how they split that time among their drivers. Fans of Max Verstappen didn’t have to wait long—the Dutchman was already out on Wednesday. A day later it was the turn of his brand-new team-mate Isack Hadjar, but the Red Bull driver managed no more than a single lap in Bahrain.
Red Bull suffered a hydraulic leak on the RB22 in the morning hours of the second test day, restricting Hadjar to one lap on the soft tyre. Mercedes and Cadillac also encountered early gremlins with their cars, although the American squad were able to fix the issue on Sergio Pérez’s car fairly quickly. The Silver Arrows had less luck: after three laps Andrea Kimi Antonelli spent the rest of the morning session parked in the garage.
Thursday afternoon line-up
| Team | Driver |
| McLaren | Lando Norris |
| Mercedes | George Russell |
| Red Bull | Isack Hadjar |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerec |
| Williams | Carlos Sainz |
| Racing Bulls | Arvid Lindblad |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso |
| Haas | Oliver Bearman |
| Audi | Gabriel Bortoleto |
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly |
| Cadillac | Valtteri Bottas |
View the F1 calendar for 2026 here
