Mercedes and Red Bull hit serious trouble as Charles Leclerc sets Bahrain pace

Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari on the second day of F1's first Bahrain 2026 pre-season test, as both Mercedes and Red Bull hit serious trouble.

Leclerc, in the SF-26 for the full day, set a 1:34.273 in the morning session, which stood as the benchmark for the remainder of the running, 0.511s clear of reigning world champion Lando Norris for McLaren. 

Whilst both those teams enjoyed more than 135 laps apiece of running, Mercedes and Ferrari ran into serious trouble.

Kimi Antonelli's morning stint in the W17 was ruined and limited to just three laps as a power unit issue developed, meaning the team was forced to change the unit ahead of the afternoon session, where George Russell took over driving duties.

Russell missed the first hour of the post-lunch running, but emerged onto the track with just under three hours remaining, and posted 54 laps to go fourth fastest, but well adrift of the pace of Leclerc and Norris. 

As for Red Bull, Isack Hadjar's full day in the car was delayed after issues uncovered in the car build on Wednesday night, but he was swiftly out following the lunch break to record 87 laps, and post a time just over a second behind Russell's 1:35.466 on a 1:36.561.

Elsewhere, the surprise package of the day was Oliver Bearman in the Haas, who became the first driver to record 100 laps as he went third quickest overall.

Bearman went double purple through the first two sectors, before dropping off in the final segment of the lap, as he shaded Russell to third, but was 0.610s slower than Norris and 1.121s slower than Leclerc's benchmark. 

Gabriel Bortoleto was sixth for Audi, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who triggered a red flag when his Alpine broke down with a drivetrain issue at Turn 1 on his 98th lap of the day.

Valterri Bottas also caused a red flag when a piece of bodywork and the glass from his wing mirror broke off on the main straight ashe took eighth for Cadillac, as Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10.

Towards the end of the day after a red flag for FIA systems checks, Arvid Lindblad crossed onto the track whilst still under red flag conditions as he took 11th, with Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson slotting in behind.

Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso racked up 98 laps for an Aston Martin team which found itself 3.9s off the pace, with Sergio Perez setting the slowest lap of the day in his half-day morning out for Cadillac, 4.3s off Leclerc. 

Overall, a total of 1,244 laps were completed on Day 2, with a full breakdown available below, with full results here.