Bold takeaway: F1 teams are turning up the pace in Bahrain, with Russell leading the charge and carving out a new benchmark early in the session, signaling a tight fight as the week unfolds.
But here’s where it gets controversial: the morning’s fastest lap times came from Mercedes’ George Russell, who clocked a 1m 34.075s on soft tyres, then improved to 1m 33.918s, just as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton posted 1m 34.209s. This left the rest of the field clearly chasing, with no one sliding under 1m 35s in the session.
In parallel, Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull at 1m 35.341s, Oliver Bearman for Haas followed at 1m 35.972s, and Oscar Piastri in McLaren posted 1m 36.390s. The pace gap was widened by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto at 1m 36.874s and Carlos Sainz in Williams at 1m 37.186s, while Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) managed 84 laps but slower than his Alpine rival by about half a second on the morning, despite using primarily medium tyres.
Cadillac’s Gabriel Bortoleto led Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Stroll 4.5 seconds off the pace—a point that becomes especially intriguing given Stroll’s previous comment about the AMR26’s performance.
Mechanical hiccups also colored the session. Cadillac experienced an early red flag on Thursday when Sergio Perez stopped on track, and Bottas’ Cadillac faced a late issue this morning after eight laps. It took nearly two hours to resolve the problem, but Bottas still managed 37 laps, leaving him near the bottom of the times for the session.
Session results – Bahrain pre-season test, Day 3 morning
- 1) George Russell (Mercedes) — 1:33.918 — 78 laps
- 2) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) — 1:34.209 — +0.291 — 69 laps
- 3) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) — 1:35.341 — +1.423 — 61 laps
- 4) Oliver Bearman (Haas) — 1:35.972 — +2.054 — 70 laps
- 5) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) — 1:36.390 — +2.472 — 73 laps
- 6) Franco Colapinto (Alpine) — 1:36.874 — +2.956 — 64 laps
- 7) Carlos Sainz (Williams) — 1:37.186 — +3.268 — 68 laps
- 8) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) — 1:37.238 — +3.320 — 84 laps
- 9) Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) — 1:38.251 — +4.333 — 60 laps
- 10) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) — 1:38.423 — +4.505 — 54 laps
- 11) Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) — 1:38.772 — +4.854 — 37 laps
What this could mean: The early pace leaders suggest Mercedes has a strong base setup, but the differences between teams remain small enough that the field could swing with a single development step or strategy tweak. The lingering reliability issues for Cadillac add a strategic layer: will they push harder as the week progresses or prioritize reliability for a longer-term test window?
Thought-provoking question: With Russell setting the early pace and others close behind, do you think Mercedes will maintain this trajectory, or will rival teams find a method to extract more speed as Bahrain testing continues? Share your takes in the comments.
