Mercedes ended the first of Formula 1's two 2026 tests in Bahrain with a 1-2 in the overall times, as Lewis Hamilton brought out the final red flag of the week by stopping out on track with just over 10 minutes left on the clock.
Hamilton was shown stopped at the side of the track at the sharp Turn 8 right-hander, with replays showing he turned left onto the runoff area between Turn 4 and Turn 5 and coasted down the hill before bringing his Ferrari to a stop.
Before that, Hamilton had completed 150 laps in the SF-26 and ended the day - and the test - with the third-fastest time, half a second off Kimi Antonelli.
The Mercedes driver posted two fastest times of all in quick succession midway through the evening session, with his best time - a 1m33.669s - putting him a quarter of a second clear of team-mate George Russell.
Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest and managed 156 laps, the highest individual total of any driver this week, with Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar completing the top six, just ahead of Haas's Esteban Ocon.
After his running on the opening day was limited, Franco Colapinto racked up well over 100 laps in the Alpine on his way to eighth-fastest time - though Colapinto almost spun his way into the barrier on his way to the grid to practice a standing start at the end of the session, then went into anti-stall at the end of the main straight once he'd practiced his launch.
Lance Stroll had easily his most successful day in terms of mileage in the Aston Martin AMR26, though his running was limited in the second session.
And he still ended the day a lowly 16th out of 17 on the timing screens, ahead of Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas.
That was because Sergio Perez improved late on - during another blackout of F1's live timing system that had not been resolved by the end of the session - to 14th, 3.696s off the pace.
