Formula 1 News: Leclerc draws first blood as last week of testing begins

Charles Leclerc (pictured) set Ferrari’s fastest lap so far in Bahrain’s Formula 1 pre-season testing, clocking a strong push lap during the opening hour of Wednesday’s session at the start of the second week.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Using unmarked C3 compound tires—one of two sets provided by Pirelli to each team for quality checks from an alternative factory—Leclerc posted a 1m33.739s around the Sakhir Circuit.

While this outperformed the times he or teammate Lewis Hamilton managed last week, it still trailed the overall test benchmark by a tenth of a second: the 1m33.669s set by Kimi Antonelli last Friday.

The Ferrari sported a brand new aerodynamic feature for the start of the second 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain.

A small wing appeared in front of the SF-26’s exhaust pipe as Charles Leclerc took to the Sakhir track before Lewis Hamilton takes over this afternoon.

Sandbagging Lando Norris in the superior Rob Marshall designed McLaren was 2nd quick, 0.313s behind Leclerc as all the teams continue to hide their true pace.

Antonelli was third fastest after completing 69 laps, 0.419s behind Leclerc. Antonelli was fastest first and third sectors, but slowed in the 2nd sector to hide the true pace of the Mercedes.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar completed some early runs with a large aero rake on the car before committing to a longer run later on. However, the Red Bull car had an issue and he never re-emerged from the garage.  He is slated to drive this afternoon as well.

Fernando Alonso returned to the pitlane just before the end of the second hour and did not return to the track.

Related Article: Formula 1 News: Adrian Newey has a plan to fix his Aston Martin ‘lemon’

Bahrain Preseason Testing, Week 2, Day 1 AM Results