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.
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365’s Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on last week’s first test in Bahrain and this week’s second test at the same venue. The trio debate Max Verstappen’s criticism of the regulations and whether Formula 1 is facing an identity crisis.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
Don't miss out on any of the Formula 1 action thanks to this handy 2026 F1 calendar that can be easily loaded into your smartphone or PC.
Download the calenderMost read
In this article







Join the conversation!