F1 Bahrain pre-season testing live commentary and updates - day 1
Follow along for updates from F1's 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain
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Red flag.
There's an unrelated picture of the seven-time world champion.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
Hamilton has spun in Turn 1, Fil Cleeren reports. The Ferrari driver got going again without damage.
There's the Newey-designed Aston on track.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
"Puzzling why AMR have given two days this (vital) week to Stroll and only one day to Alonso," says Silverstone Guy.
One may presume the reason is Alonso got a full day of testing under his belt at Barcelona while Stroll got a meagre five laps on Thursday evening.
"From what we have first seen of the cars, which look the most stable through mid- and high-speed corners?" nieklouter asks.
Unfortunately it's a bit early to draw conclusions, stay tuned to find out more later today or this week.
Fun fact: no fewer than eight current F1 drivers were born in the 21st century.
The only other one is Jack Doohan, now a Haas reserve driver.
Meanwhile, a happy birthday to Liam Lawson, who turns 24. He's not driving today, so he'll have lots of time to celebrate (perhaps).
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
Lindblad outpaces Piastri by 0.021s, he's back on top.
By the way, feel free to send any questions our way there – we'll do our best to answer them.
What's your take on that updated design? Let us know in the comments section.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Piastri goes fastest! 1m37.964s with McLaren's newly liveried MCL40.
Lindblad just ended an 18-lap stint on soft tyres. This set covered 22 laps overall (he pitted four laps in).
Ambiant temperature is up to 27C with track temperature 35C.
"As is typical for Bahrain's coastal circuit, it is quite windy and gusty," Fil Cleeren adds.
Meanwhile, Racing Bulls is on 20 laps with its Red Bull Ford power unit.
No other car has done more than 10 laps. Alpine-Mercedes props up that table with just four laps for the blue-and-pink car.
Although nobody's attacking, we've still got a nice collection of lock-ups in that corner from earlier on. Check this out!
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
Jake Boxall-Legge is at Turn 10
Nobody's really attacking at the moment, you can get a sense of the lift-and-coast, and then the continued run along the straight in seventh gear – you can hear the car starts to bounce on the limiter as it approaches T11.
Colapinto takes to the track in the Alpine after what seemed like a 45-minute delay.
And we have pictures of cars on track now!
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Mercedes was the most impressive team at Barcelona in terms of pace and reliability, let's see if that's still the case here.
Russell now takes the top spot by a whisker, in 1m39.419s.
Racing Bulls is the first team to reach a 10-lap tally today.
As a reference, last year's pole time was Oscar Piastri's 1m29.841s, so we're still a long way off – which is nothing surprising at this stage.
Lindblad now sets the quickest time in 1m39.480.
Lindblad is now going very slowly, and got in the way of Piastri at Turn 8 as the McLaren driver just emerged from the pitlane.
Lindblad goes second-fastest on soft tyres, in 1m40.069s. Cadillac's Bottas is third, three further tenths away on mediums.
In his first run, Carlos Sainz conducted some basic aero correlation work, driving the Williams at a fixed speed of around 200km/h on the straight between Turns 3 and 4.
Ten cars have been seen on track, most of them with areo rakes, barbecue grills that measure aerodynamic data.
The Cadillac is fitted with flow-vis paint that helps engineers see airflows on the car in real life.
We're yet to see the Alpine, but we're barely 20 mins into the day.
Esteban Ocon goes fastest with the first sub-100s time: 1m39.634s on soft tyres.
In other words, Williams is out on track. The team missed the Barcelona test altogether but completed two filming days in the last week.
Team boss James Vowles spoke to the media this morning in Bahrain, so you'll hear about the team's prospects very soon on Autosport and Motorsport!
Eight cars have taken to the track. We're still waiting for the Ferrari, the Mercedes and the Alpine.
Verstappen sets the first time of the week, a 1m48.950s, and immediately improves to a 1m44.012s.
Here we go! Several cars pour out of the pits, including Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls).
Now, where can we watch the test, you might ask?
We can't! Only the last hour of testing will be broadcast, which means that for most of the day we'll rely on our reporters on site, Filip Cleeren, Jake Boxall-Legge and Ronald Vording.
At least, unlike Barcelona, this test is not taking place behind closed doors.
No fewer than 18 drivers will be in action today, with Fernando Alonso among those sitting the action out. Find the whole plan for the week here.
By: Autosport Staff
