Kimi Antonelli topped the penultimate day of F1 2026 pre-season testing with the fastest lap in Bahrain this year so far.
Having taken over from George Russell at lunchtime, Antonelli took the top spot late on with a 1m32.803s, just 0.058s ahead of Oscar Piastri, who took over the McLaren from first session pacesetter Lando Norris.
Both Mercedes and McLaren completed well in excess of 150 laps between their drivers, though Piastri did stop out on track just before the planned race start procedure practice at the end of the session.
Piastri did get the car running again and, therefore, was able to take part in the race start practice.
Max Verstappen had sole occupancy of the Red Bull on Thursday, ending up third fastest on the timesheet, just 0.359s adrift of Antonelli.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth after a full day aboard the Ferrari, which stole the headlines on Thursday morning with its unique ‘upside down’ rear wing.
He spent a large chunk of the day in the pits, meaning he totalled just over 80 laps, but did have two very strong getaways in the simulated race starts at the end of the morning and afternoon sessions.
Norris’s first session benchmark was still good enough to leave him fifth on the end-of-day leaderboard, with Franco Colapinto placing Alpine sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi and Russell.
Esteban Ocon’s Haas was ninth ahead of Liam Lawson, who had his final day of pre-season running with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad scheduled to drive for all of Friday.
Cadillac ended up 14th and 16th of the 16 drivers to drive on Thursday, with Sergio Perez 2.566s off Antonelli’s time.
Fernando Alonso was 15th for Aston Martin, having lost the final three hours of the session after he stopped out on track just after the Turn 4 right-hander.
He’d completed 68 laps prior to the stoppage and his fastest time was over four and a half seconds slower than Antonelli.
Results
1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m32.803s C3, 79 laps
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.058s C3, 86 laps
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.359s C3, 139 laps
4 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.605s C3, 78 laps
5 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.650 C4, 72 laps
6 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.015s C5, 120 laps
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.184s C4, 73 laps
8 George Russell (Mercedes) +1.308s C3, 77 laps
9 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.398s C4, 58 laps
10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.729s C4, 106 laps
11 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.752s C5, 117 laps
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.460s U, 29 laps
13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.476s U, 69 laps
14 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.566s C5, 50 laps
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +4.689s C3, 68 laps
16 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +7.390s C1, 58 laps
