Kimi Antonelli brought out the red flag just after the halfway stage of the final morning of F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The Italian driver's Mercedes ground to a halt soon after Turn 10, with an apparent lack of energy deployment from his W17, although the specific problem is not yet known.
Enjoying a strong morning up to that reliability issue, the three-time podium finisher had completed 49 laps and currently sits second on the time sheets, with a 1:33.916 — just over two-tenths of a second slower than Charles Leclerc's leading time of 1:33.689.
Antonelli still holds the fastest time across both official tests in Sakhir so far. He set the 1:32.803 yesterday evening, with Mercedes remaining the favourites through pre-season, despite the controversy surrounding the compression ratio of its power unit.
The 19-year-old will hand over the keys to the Mercedes to team-mate George Russell at lunchtime on the final day of testing.
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