Reigning F1 world champion Lando Norris completed the primary day of McLaren’s first 2026 Bahrain pre-season check quickest.
All groups besides Williams had monitor time with their new automobiles in Barcelona final month, however Wednesday marked the primary day of official testing of the 2026 pre-season.
Purple Bull and Max Verstappen led the best way within the first four-hour session, earlier than McLaren and Lando Norris took over within the afternoon.
Norris surpassed Verstappen’s benchmark with simply over an hour left, clocking 1 minute 34.669 seconds on C2 Pirelli tires.
Norris continued on till the checkered flag, and this was the decisive lap of the day.
The primary day’s working was interrupted by two brief crimson flags.
The primary was within the opening session when Alpine’s Franco Colapinto stopped. Within the afternoon, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg caused his second cease.
Nevertheless, the crimson flag was short-lived because the Audi driver was in a position to get his automotive shifting once more and return to the pit lane.
Verstappen maintained second place with a time of 1 minute 34.789 seconds as he logged essentially the most distance within the automotive right now.
The four-time world champion accomplished 135 laps, additional confirming the sturdy reliability of Purple Bull’s new engine, designed in partnership with Ford.
Charles Leclerc completed within the high three for Ferrari with a time of 1 minute 35.190 seconds, forward of Haas’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in second place.
Piastri drove the brand new McLaren automotive within the first session and was changed by Norris within the afternoon.
Mercedes completed sixth with George Russell, however a technical downside with the automotive within the afternoon restricted Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s mileage.
The Italian, in his second season in F1, completed eleventh total after finishing simply 29 laps.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who was essential of the 2026 automotive on Wednesday, completed seventh forward of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Audi’s Hulkenberg and Williams’ Alex Albon.
Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad was pressured to park within the early afternoon after 75 laps on account of a technical downside.
He was led by Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Gabriel Bortleto’s sister, Audi.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had restricted working on account of a difficulty. He was seventeenth in entrance of Colapinto and behind Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac).
Isaac Hajjar, Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman didn’t participate in Wednesday’s run.
Full outcomes of the 2026 F1 Bahrain check: Day 1
