Formula 1 News: Russell and Piastri using ‘Trick’ Mercedes engine finish 1-2 in Bahrain – Day 1

The first day of week 2 of Formula 1 preseason testing at the Bahrain International Circuit is complete, and George Russell (pictured) and Oscar Piastri set the two fastest times.  Both are using the ‘trick’ Mercedes engine with a rumored 1:18 compression ratio.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Russell turned a lap of 1m33.459s on the C3 compound Pirellis tires in his #63 Mercedes to top the #81 McLaren Mercedes of Oscar Piastri by just 0.010s, also on C3 tires.  We have not seen the full speed of Piastri and teammate Lando Norris who are driving the superior Rob Marshall designed cars.

Piastri also set the fastest time on the C4 (1:33.641) and the quickest on the C2 (1:34.067). The hardest compound, the C1, saw Russell post the benchmark lap of 1:37.094.

Charles Leclerc’s time from the morning held up for third fastest, 0.280s behind Russell.

Lando Norris was 4th from his morning times, 0.593s behind Russell, while Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top-5, 0.699s behind Russell.

The five quickest laps of Wednesday were all set on the C3 compound, in track conditions very similar to those seen during the previous three days of running. Unlike last week, teams were able to select 24 sets of dry tires from the full range of Pirelli compounds.

Hadjar followed in sixth, ahead of Hamilton, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Colapinto and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto. The Williams of Alex Albon placed in 11th, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, Bearman, the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Stroll next in the classification.

Esteban Ocon was 16th for Haas, while Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg in the Audi, Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad – who achieved the second best mileage of the day on 75 laps – and the Cadillac pair of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez rounded out the order.

All but one team opted to change drivers ahead of the day’s second session, Red Bull being the exception as Isack Hadjar remained at the wheel of the RB22 – the Frenchman having lost track time in the morning while the team carried out work on the car.

Prior to the checkered flag falling on Thursday,  practice for a new race start light procedure took place to close out the session, which saw all cars return to the pit lane before completing a formation lap and an additional formation lap before lining up on the grid for a simulated race start.

A formation lap / start sequence – with blue lights flashing for five-seconds once all cars are on the grid before the main start light sequence begins to allow all the cars to spool up their turbocharger.

It went off without a hitch – no one stalled as was feared if their turbo was not spooled up in time.

Race Start Procedure test for 2026! ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Wkkkjrioyl

— deni (@fiagirly) February 18, 2026

Bahrain Week 2 Day 1 Preseason Test Results