Antonelli Tops Second Day of Second 2026 F1 Pre-Season Test

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli topped the second day of the second 2026 F1 pre-season test. 

Antonelli set 1m 32.803 with 55 minutes left of the afternoon session to head McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by 0.058 seconds, whilst Piastri’s teammate; Lando Norris topped the morning’s running from Max Verstappen but slipped to fifth on the overall timesheet by the end of the day.

Verstappen was first out on track in the morning session and proceeded to set 1m 38.955 as the initial benchmark time on the C3 tyre, but Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto displaced him with 1m 38.025 on the same tyre compound in the 18th minute.

Norris however produced 1m 35.406 barely a minute later to set the pace, which he soon lowered to 1m 34.625 on his next flying lap.

Verstappen subsequently displaced him by 0.005s in the 32nd minute with 1m 34.620, but Norris rebounded in the 47th minute with 1m 33.453 which saw him top the morning session from Verstappen, as everyone subsequently focused on race simulations and aero testing.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton though only managed five laps which was the least amount of running amongst the morning runners, whilst Mercedes’ George Russell managed the most laps as he registered 77 laps in total.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 33.453
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.131
3	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.658
4	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 1.677
5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 1.810
6	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 1.826
7	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 2.053
8	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 3.506
9	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 4.019
10	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 6.217
11	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 6.740

Ferrari kept Hamilton in the car for the afternoon session and sent him straight out once the pit exit light turned green as he prioritised long runs, due to his disrupted morning due to a technical issue.

Verstappen meanwhile displaced Norris at the top of the timesheet with a 1m 33.444 just 27 minutes into the afternoon’s running.

Red flags were however thrown in the 53rd minute after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso grinded to a halt on the inside of Turn 4 with a technical issue, which saw the session stopped for 17 minutes.

Not long after the restart, Verstappen lowered his own benchmark time to 1m 33.162 but Piastri just 19 minutes later posted 1m 32.861 on the C3 tyre to go fastest overall from the Dutchman.

Antonelli meanwhile replaced Russell at Mercedes for the afternoon session and waited until 55 minutes left in the session, before he posted 1m 32.803 to go fastest from Piastri by 0.058s and ultimately topped the day’s running on the C3 tyre.

Both of the morning and afternoon sessions ended with red flag and start procedure tests which largely passed without incident, aside from Piastri having stopped at Turn 1 during the latter session at the end with a technical issue.

Majority of the fastest lap times were done on the C3 tyres but Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson set their fastest laps on the C4 tyre, whilst Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez’s times were on the C5 tyre.

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas’ best lap was done on the C1 tyre whilst Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman’s best lap times were set on prototype tyres.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 32.803
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.058
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.359
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.6505
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.650
6	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.015
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 1.184
8	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 1.308
9	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.398
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.729
11	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 1.752
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 2.460
13	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 2.476
14	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 2.566
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 4.669
16	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 7.390