{"id":433105,"date":"2026-02-18T23:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433105\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:32:12","slug":"mercedes-heads-mclaren-by-0-01s-as-four-teams-hit-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433105\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes heads McLaren by 0.01s, as four teams hit trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Russell<\/a> set the fastest lap of Formula 1\u2019s Bahrain pre-season testing so far as the second week of running got under way at Sakhir.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes<\/a> driver lapped in 1m33.459s this afternoon, which is two tenths faster than team-mate Kimi Antonelli\u2019s benchmark last week, a 1m33.669s. Both of those were set with C3 tyres.<\/p>\n

Russell wasn\u2019t alone in going significantly faster than last week, with Piastri gaining a whole second to set a 1m33.469s, also on C3 rubber. The Australian topped the timesheet for some time before Russell\u2019s late attempt pipped him by 0.01s.<\/p>\n

The morning benchmark had been set by Charles Leclerc<\/a> on prototype rubber in 1m33.739s, which is Ferrari\u2019s<\/a> quickest lap so far. Still, the Scuderia\u2019s day wasn\u2019t trouble-free, as Lewis Hamilton<\/a> completed just 44 laps in the afternoon. The seven-time world champion spent 90 minutes in the garage due to an unspecified issue.<\/p>\n

Lando Norris<\/a> and Antonelli made up the top five, with Red Bull\u2019s Isack Hadjar<\/a> \u2013 the only driver to complete the whole day \u2013 down in sixth. Hadjar set a personal benchmark of 1m34.260s and covered a meagre \u2013 by current standards \u2013 66 laps, after his morning\u2019s activity was restricted to 13 laps by a technical issue related to the engine\u2019s coolant circuits.<\/p>\n

As feared by a number of midfielders, the gap to the top teams remained substantial. The fifth-fastest outfit was Williams<\/a>, with Carlos Sainz<\/a> in 1m35.113s, 1.654s slower than pacesetter Piastri.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar <\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Joe Portlock \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alpine<\/a>, Audi<\/a> and Racing Bulls<\/a> were 1.795s, 1.804s and 2.294s off, courtesy of youngsters Franco Colapinto<\/a>, Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a> and Liam Lawson<\/a> respectively.<\/p>\n

Among the remaining three teams \u2013 Aston Martin, Haas and Cadillac \u2013 two had a noticeably troubled day.<\/p>\n

Aston suffered from a power unit issue, spending four hours in the garage, roughly from 12pm to 4pm local time. When Lance Stroll<\/a> finally got the squad\u2019s afternoon programme under way, he caused a red flag, spinning into in the Turn 10 gravel trap after suffering what looked more like a technical fault than a driving mistake. The team lost another hour and a half, so the AMR26 completed just 54 laps today.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, Aston gained more than two seconds compared to last week, going from 1m38.165s to 1m35.974s.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cadillac lost some three hours as it mostly stayed in the garage early in both the morning and afternoon sessions \u2013 with the morning delay linked to sensor issues. Sergio Perez<\/a> covered just 24 laps, with Valtteri Bottas<\/a> on 35; no truly meaningful lap time was recorded by their yet-to-be-named car.<\/p>\n

\"Lance <\/p>\n

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Amid concern regarding the start procedure with F1\u2019s new-for-2026 machinery, a start sequence was simulated at the very end of the day, with none of the 10 cars stalling when the lights went out.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

F1 Bahrain pre-season test – Day 4 results<\/p>\n

Pos
\nDriver
\nCar \/ Engine
\nTime
\nGap
\n\u00a0Laps\u00a0<\/p>\n

1\u00a0
\nGeorge Russell
\nMercedes
\n1m33.459s
\n\u00a0
\n76<\/p>\n

2\u00a0
\nOscar Piastri
\nMcLaren \/ Mercedes
\n1m33.469s
\n0.010s
\n70<\/p>\n

3\u00a0
\nCharles Leclerc
\nFerrari
\n1m33.739s
\n0.280s
\n70<\/p>\n

4\u00a0
\nLando Norris
\nMcLaren \/ Mercedes
\n1m34.052s
\n0.593s
\n54<\/p>\n

5\u00a0
\nKimi Antonelli
\nMercedes
\n1m34.158s
\n0.699s
\n69<\/p>\n

6\u00a0
\nIsack Hadjar
\nRed Bull \/ Red Bull Ford
\n1m34.260s
\n0.801s
\n66<\/p>\n

7\u00a0
\nLewis Hamilton
\nFerrari
\n1m34.299s
\n0.840s
\n44<\/p>\n

8\u00a0
\nCarlos Sainz
\nWilliams \/ Mercedes
\n1m35.113s
\n1.654s
\n55<\/p>\n

9\u00a0
\nFranco Colapinto
\nAlpine \/ Mercedes
\n1m35.254s
\n1.795s
\n60<\/p>\n

10\u00a0
\nGabriel Bortoleto
\nAudi
\n1m35.263s
\n1.804s
\n71<\/p>\n

11\u00a0
\nAlexander Albon
\nWilliams \/ Mercedes
\n1m35.690s
\n2.231s
\n55<\/p>\n

12\u00a0
\nLiam Lawson
\nRacing Bulls \/ Red Bull Ford
\n1m35.753s
\n2.294s
\n61<\/p>\n

13\u00a0
\nOliver Bearman
\nHaas \/ Ferrari
\n1m35.778s
\n2.319s
\n42<\/p>\n

14\u00a0
\nPierre Gasly
\nAlpine \/ Mercedes
\n1m35.898s
\n2.439s
\n61<\/p>\n

15\u00a0
\nLance Stroll
\nAston Martin \/ Honda
\n1m35.974s
\n2.515s
\n26<\/p>\n

16\u00a0
\nEsteban Ocon
\nHaas \/ Ferrari
\n1m36.418s
\n2.959s
\n65<\/p>\n

17\u00a0
\nFernando Alonso
\nAston Martin \/ Honda
\n1m36.536s
\n3.077s
\n28<\/p>\n

18\u00a0
\nNico Hulkenberg
\nAudi
\n1m36.741s
\n3.282s
\n49<\/p>\n

19\u00a0
\nArvid Lindblad
\nRacing Bulls \/ Red Bull Ford
\n1m36.769s
\n3.310s
\n75<\/p>\n

20\u00a0
\nValtteri Bottas
\nCadillac \/ Ferrari
\n1m36.798s
\n3.339s
\n35<\/p>\n

21\u00a0
\nSergio Perez
\nCadillac \/ Ferrari
\n1m38.191s
\n4.732s
\n24<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Russell set the fastest lap of Formula 1\u2019s Bahrain pre-season testing so far as the second week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158290,105099,158212,158310,372,49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-433105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-as-four-teams-hit-trouble","9":"tag-bahrain-international-circuit","10":"tag-bahrain-pre-season-2","11":"tag-f1-bahrain-pre-season-test-mercedes-heads-mclaren-by-0-01s","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}