McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the opening day of the first official 2026 F1 pre-season test in Bahrain.
Norris ran in the afternoon session and laid down 1m 34.669 as the benchmark for the rest of the test on the medium C3 tyre, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who ran all day and amassed 136 laps of data for the Austrian constructor.
Having opted to run for the entirety of the opening day of the first pre-season test in Bahrain, Verstappen was straight out onto the Sakhir International Circuit as ten teams managed at least an outlap in the opening half-hour aside from Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
Mercedes’ George Russell however set the pace in the opening hour with 1m 34.419, but McLaren’s Oscar Piastri displaced him with 1m 37.964 just over a hour into the morning’s running as he traded fastest laps with Racing Bulls’ rookie, Arvid Lindblad.
Colapinto however caused the first red flag of the official opening pre-season test after he stopped on track with a technical issue.
Verstappen eventually lowered the morning’s fastest lap to 1m 35.433 just under two hours into the session, which wasn’t beaten before the lunch break as only Piastri and Russell got within a second of the Dutchman, whilst Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was exactly one second behind Verstappen
Piastri, Russell and Hamilton though were amongst various drivers who handed their cars over to their teammates for the afternoon session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 35.433 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.169 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.675 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.00 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.736 |
| 6 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 2.512 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.788 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 3.438 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.717 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.450 |
| 11 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 4.897 |
Only Verstappen, Ocon, Lindblad and Stroll remained in their respective cars for the afternoon session, with McLaren’s reigning world champion – Norris first to hit the track after lunch in a fairly quiet start until Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track around 100 minutes into the session with a technical issue.
The German however was back on track just over a hour later to resume his testing programme in the session, yet Lindblad’s day was brought to an early end with just under two hours left due to a fluid leak on his Racing Bulls car.
Nobody though was able to truly trouble Verstappen’s lap time from the morning session until nearly 75 minutes left, when Norris popped the C3 tyre on and set 1m 34.669 to go top by 0.151s from Verstappen, with the latter having shortly beforehand lowered his benchmark to 1m 34.830.
As the checkered flag approached, Verstappen popped on the medium C3 tyres to cut his deficit to Norris slightly down to 0.129s, but nobody could deny Norris the fastest lap of the day.
Across the day’s running, many drivers set their fastest laps on the medium C3 tyre but Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Colapinto’s fastest laps were set on the C2 tyre, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Valtteri Bottas completed their quickest lap times on the C1 tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 34.669 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.129 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.521 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.909 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.933 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.439 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.764 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.096 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 2.192 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.768 |
| 11 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 2.960 |
| 12 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 3.276 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 3.552 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 4.159 |
| 15 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 4.202 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 4.481 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 5.214 |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 5.661 |
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