Russell Leads Hamilton in Final Bahrain Test Morning

George Russell set the fastest time of the week for Mercedes, topping the final morning of Formula 1's 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain. His new teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was second-fastest in his first public outing for Ferrari, trailing by just under three-tenths of a second. The session was marred by another stoppage for the troubled Cadillac team, while Aston Martin's Lance Stroll finished a distant tenth, validating his earlier concerns about the team's pace deficit.

Why it matters:

The final morning of testing offers the last glimpse of pure performance before teams fully hide their hands ahead of the season opener. Russell's pace confirms Mercedes' strong start to the new regulations, but Hamilton's immediate competitiveness in red signals Ferrari may have closed the gap. Meanwhile, the struggles for Aston Martin and Cadillac raise early red flags about their development progress.

The details:

• Mercedes on top: George Russell set a 1m33.918s on soft tyres, the fastest lap of the test so far, completing 78 laps in a trouble-free session for the Silver Arrows.
• Hamilton's Ferrari debut: Lewis Hamilton, in his first official session as a Ferrari driver, was a close second with a 1m34.209s, just 0.291 seconds behind his former teammate.
• The chasing pack: Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, over a second off the lead pace, followed by Haas rookie Oliver Bearman and McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
• Cadillac's woes continue: After Sergio Perez's stoppage on Thursday, Valtteri Bottas managed only eight laps in the Cadillac before another reliability issue caused a lengthy red flag. The team lost nearly two hours of track time.
• Stroll's stark admission: Lance Stroll finished 4.5 seconds off the pace in the Aston Martin, ironically matching his own pre-session estimate that the AMR26 was "four seconds off" the frontrunners.

What's next:

The afternoon session will conclude the three-day test, with teams expected to conduct race simulations and long-run data collection. The true competitive order remains obscured by varying fuel loads and test programs, but the early signs point to a potentially tight battle at the front between Mercedes and Ferrari. All eyes will be on whether Cadillac can resolve its reliability crisis and if Aston Martin can find a chunk of performance before next week's Bahrain Grand Prix.