F1 2026 testing live: Title favourites Mercedes impressing at second pre-season session in Bahrain

This is a good day for Racing Bull so far. Arvid Lindblad, the rookie Brit, has just gone back to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:37.945.

They’ve also completed 30 laps so far - by the far the most of any team. Williams are the only others to even clear 20

This is a fascinating first proper look at all the new 2026 cars on track. I’ve got to say, the liverys are glinting spectacularly so far in the Bahrain sun

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli escaped “unhurt” after being involved in a car crash near his home.

The F1 team said the 19-year-old Italian’s car was the only vehicle involved in the incident in San Marino on Saturday night.

The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that an investigation had been opened after an exclusive Mercedes supercar crashed into a road-side retaining wall, with the vehicle suffering “extensive damage”.

A reminder that the times themselves don’t particularly matter in pre-season testing but it’s interesting to see who is going quicker than their rivals.

Oscar Piastri is the latest man to move top of the leaderboard as he clock 1:37.964 in the newly-liveried McLaren MCL40.

Russell now takes the top spot by a whisker, clocking 1:39.419. He’s the early favourite for the title this season with Mercedes thought to have dealt with the new regulations best.

Arvid Lindblad is less than a tenth of a second slower and he is the first man to complete 10 laps today, in his Racing Bull. Ocon and Sainz have also reached double figures, while Franco Colapinto has done his first laps in the Alpine –the final man out on track about 45 minutes after everything began.

Esteban Ocon in the Haas has currently posted the fastest lap time (and is the only man to go sub 1:40) with a 1m 39.634s on soft tyres, while rookie Brit Arvid Lindblad in the Racing Bulls car is second after clocking 1:40.069 - also on softs

Plenty of cars out on track in Bahrain but one particularly interesting one is Carlos Sainz in the Williams.

At the ‘private shakedown’ track day in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, they were the only team not to show up as they still worked on the car.

So this is our first chance to see the FW48 in action and Sainz is putting it through its paces.

Hopes are high for a decent season, after coming fifth in the Constructors’ Championship last year but are they already behind the 8-ball?

As we mentioned, teams will have four hours to test out one of their cars, then an hour’s break for lunch before another four hours.

As soon as we get the green light in Bahrain, Max Verstappen heads out in his Red Bull. The four-time world champion is sporting some aero rakes as well

Heading into his 20th consecutive year in the sport, Lewis Hamilton has witnessed his fair share of regulation changes in Formula 1. The most recent, in 2022, saw the Briton’s era of domination at Mercedes abruptly end. As such, his move to Ferrari last year marked the start of a new chapter. Something fresh, decked in red.

Yet even Hamilton has acknowledged, as pre-season testing gets underway this week in Barcelona, that this year’s regulation shake-up is the biggest he has ever seen. For all 11 teams, the sense of the unknown is palpable as they gather data and crunch the numbers ahead of the first race in Australia on 8 March.

Hamilton endured a chastening first year with Ferrari. No wins, no podiums (for the first time in 19 F1 seasons) and, by the end, a figure of utter demoralisation both on the track and in the media pen. The 41-year-old, in what was billed as the sweetest of transfers to F1’s most fabled team, suitably labelled 2025 his “worst season ever.”

But the only way is up, right? It’s a clean slate for all the teams and, after a campaign to forget, Ferrari will be desperate to be right back up the top of the leaderboard, challenging for race victories and, ultimately, world championships.

But at this early stage, are Ferrari well-placed to launch a title challenge?

This week’s event is a three-day test, from Wednesday-Friday.

The morning session takes place from 7am-11am (GMT), followed by a one-hour lunch break, before the afternoon session from midday-4pm (GMT).