F1 testing live: Lap times, updates, schedule and results from Bahrain – UK Times

Mercedes, who encountered issues yesterday, have found their feet again this morning, with Russell fastest with a 1:33:918 – 0.291 secs ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. It’s also a quicker time than Charles Leclerc’s fastest lap yesterday.

Max Verstappen is third, 1.423 secs off the pace, with Ollie Bearman fourth and Franco Colapinto fifth.

6-11: Piastri, Sainz, Lawson, Bortoleto, Stroll, Bottas

Max Verstappen has described F1’s new set of regulations as “anti-racing”, claiming the energy management aspect of the 2026 rules makes it feel like “Formula E on steroids.”

Arguably the biggest rules change in F1’s 76-year history, with new engine and chassis regulations for the 2026 season and beyond, have divided opinion up and down the now-11-team Formula 1 grid.

In the midst of the second pre-season test in Bahrain this week, four-time world champion Verstappen has delivered a damning verdict, despite Red Bull impressing in the first few days while producing their own power unit for the first time alongside Ford.

“He’s all about performance,” Stroll said of Newey. “He’s just obsessed about how he can bring more performance to the car and he’s a great leader overall.”

“We are where we are. Do we want to fight for race wins? Yes. Are we fighting for race wins today? Doesn’t look like it. Does that mean we can’t fight for race wins in the future? No, I believe we can.

“I don’t have a crystal ball. It doesn’t look like it’s amazing.”

“We are seeing six tenths consistently. Into Turn 1, we can’t get close to that. There speed into Turn 1 is mightily impressive.

“The Red Bull from scratch to be built on an entirely new programme, to deliver it, be reliable and deliver performance with it. They have achieved all of that.”

George Russell is currently the fastest man on track, followed by Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson.

Early stages today though…

1. RUS 1:34.075 – 12 laps
2. VER +1.266 – 10 laps
3. LAW +3.163 – 16 laps
4. SAI +3.247 – 15 laps
5. BEA +3.689 – 8 laps
6. HAM +3.888 – 8 laps
7. COL +5.093 – 6 laps
8. STR +7.744 – 11 laps
9. BOR – 6 laps
10. PIA – 5 laps
11. BOT – 5 laps

The Ferrari driver, in the cockpit for the whole day, is among the first cars out on track, with an aero-rake on his car.

Max Verstappen, Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto also amongst the cars on track. Unfortunately, F1’s live timing data is currently broken, so we’re not able to bring you live timing updates at the moment.

Hopefully there’ll be a fix soon…

McLaren – Oscar Piastri (all day)

Mercedes – George Russell (morning); Kimi Antonelli (afternoon)

Red Bull – Max Verstappen (morning); Isack Hadjar (afternoon)

Ferrari – Lewis Hamilton (all day)

Williams – Carlos Sainz (morning); Alex Albon (afternoon)

Racing Bulls – Liam Lawson (all day)

Aston Martin – Lance Stroll (all day)

Haas – Ollie Bearman (morning); Esteban Ocon (afternoon)

Audi – Gabriel Bortoleto (morning); Nico Hulkenberg (afternoon)

Alpine – Franco Colapinto (all day)

Cadillac – Valtteri Bottas (morning); Sergio Perez (afternoon)

And we are a go with the third and final day of this week’s pre-season test!