F1 Bahrain pre-season testing live commentary and updates - day 5
Follow for updates of day five from F1 pre-season testing for the 2026 season in Bahrain
Live Standings
Live Text
Hello! Welcome to live commentary for the penultimate day of pre-season testing for the 2026 campaign in Bahrain 
Who is driving on the morning of day five?
McLaren - Norris
Mercedes - Russell
Red Bull - Verstappen
Ferrari - Hamilton
Williams - Albon
Racing Bulls - Lawson
Aston Martin - Alonso
Haas - Bearman
Audi - Bortoleto
Alpine - Colapinto
Cadillac - Bottas
There's five minutes to go until running so please, as ever, submit your F1 questions and we shall do our best to get them answered!
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
The penultimate day of pre-season testing is go, go, go!
We have our first lap time of the day and it goes to Verstappen, who sets a 1m38.955s on medium rubber.
That's just over 10 minutes done now and it's actually been a rather busy track. There's been 10 drivers to venture out, though only Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell and Lawson have a time on the board.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
'Morksol4' throwing his support towards Aston Martin. Well, you're not the only one to do that as world champion Verstappen has revealed he hopes Honda 'do very well' as the Silverstone outfit's engine supplier.
This comes after a very disappointing start to the season for Aston Martin and Honda.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Lap times are starting to ramp up now as Audi's Bortoleto has gone top with a 1m38.025s.
Norris now has the current with a 1m34.626s, so the lap times are significantly getting quicker already considering Verstappen was quickest on a 1m38s at the start.
For reference, the quickest lap from last Thursday morning was Leclerc with a 1m34.273s.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
Lap count
- Lando Norris – McLaren – 10 laps
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi – 8 laps
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 8 laps
- Alex Albon – Williams – 6 laps
- George Russell – Mercedes – 6 laps
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari – 5 laps
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine – 5 laps
- Oliver Bearman – Haas – 4 laps
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls – 3 laps
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin – 2 laps
'rishab155' - yes, we have a group of team members out in Bahrain. I think one of the early learnings is that the top four from last year - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - has increased its gap on the competition. So much so, Ocon thinks the midfield is "seconds away".
Outside of that, Haas is performing quite solid and the VF-26 seems to be responsive and receptive to driver input.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
The commentary team has been discussing that 2009 season from Brawn GP.
We all know the story there, so for no reason at all other than a bit of fun, tell us if there has been a minnow team - not saying Brawn was one - from the past that you adored.
As an example, for no reason at all, I had a soft spot for Super Aguri...
Sakon Yamamoto, Super Aguri F1 SA06.
Photo by: Mark Capilitan
McLaren top
Where have we seen that before? Norris has just set the fastest lap of pre-season as the reigning world champion did a 1m33.453s on the medium tyre.
That beats the previous best time of a 1m33.459s from Russell, who did his time on Wednesday.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Just more on that question from 'rishab155'
In the earlier days of last week, the Ferrari's rear end looked to be a little twitchy. But this appears to have been stabilised, and the drivers seem much more at ease with the SF-26. The exhaust winglet appears to be a nifty little tool - while perhaps overegged in some areas of the media, using the exhaust gases for downforce is a good way to maintain cornering performance as the engine continues to run off-throttle. But, at this stage, George Russell's long runs look pretty devastating; he managed a string of 1m36s yesterday, surpassing the 1m37s-1m38s achieved by the Ferraris and McLarens.
The Aston Martin also catches the eye, but not for the right reasons; the drivers seem completely unsure of what the AMR26 will do on the approach to a corner - hence the myriad lock-ups in the slower turns.
Earlier we spoke about the starting procedure test that happened at the end of Wednesday's running. The FIA has now confirmed that this'll happen at the end of each session, morning and afternoon.
Lap count
- Lando Norris – McLaren – 16 laps
- George Russell – Mercedes – 16 laps
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 15 laps
- Alex Albon – Williams – 13 laps
- Franco Colapinto – Alpine – 11 laps
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi – 8 laps
- Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin – 8 laps
- Oliver Bearman – Haas – 8 laps
- Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls – 6 laps
- Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari – 5 laps
Where's Cadillac?
As you have probably noticed, Cadillac is yet to hit the track today and we are working hard to find out why.
'Victor N' - I had a feeling Minardi would come up. It does beg the question though: what is the future for that Faenza squad?
Now under its Racing Bulls guise, is there still a place for a so-called second squad on the grid - especially when, historically, it's been a junior team for Red Bull but the likes of de Vries and Ricciardo have driven for it in recent years.
Though, tbf, with Lawson and Lindblad it does seem to be going back to its roots now.
Fernando Alonso, Minardi PS01
Photo by: Sutton Images
Norris still has the fastest lap, having set a 1m33.453s around 20 minutes ago. It leaves him 0.131s ahead of Verstappen in second with Albon (1m35.399s) currently rounding out the top three.
Looks like drivers are mainly on longrun programmes right now, as Russell crosses the line with a 1m37s - approximately three-seconds off his fastest lap for the day.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
There's a question about why so few laps for Ferrari, as Hamilton has been in his garage for much of the running now. It's understood that the Scuderia is currently making a power unit change and this follows limited running yesterday as well.
On Wednesday, a mechanical issue put the seven-time world champion out for well over an hour in the afternoon.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Speaking of Hamilton, it's been a tough few years for him as he struggled to adapt to the ground-effect cars. It was topped off with an incredibly disappointing debut campaign with Ferrari last year, but he is now much more confident for the season ahead.
“I generally feel in the best place that I've been in a long, long time with rearranging things within my team and then with the car."
Lap count
- Norris - 22
- Verstappen - 26
- Russell - 34
- Albon - 31
- Bearman - 18
- Colapinto - 25
- Alonso - 18
- Bortoleto - 8
- Lawson - 8
- Hamilton - 5
- Bottas - 2
As you can see, 1h45m into the session and Cadillac has finally appeared with its grand prix winning veteran, Bottas.
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Anybody there?
We're now halfway through the session, but things are rather quiet with only Norris, Russell, Colapinto and Bottas out on track.
Now the track is ramping up though, with only Bortoleto, Hamilton, Lawson and Bottas not out. The Cadillac driver still hasn't got an official time on the board, whereas we've still not seen Hamilton since the opening hour.
There's a lot of chatter about that Ferrari rear wing and yesterday we reported on some its upgrades.
Our man JBL called it a "nifty little tool" earlier, but "perhaps overegged" in terms of what advantage it could give.
About time
We're now 2.5 hours into the session and Cadillac finally has its first official lap time on the board with a 1m41.664s for Bottas on the C3.
F1 has released a neat video on that Ferrari rear wing.
Lap count
- Norris - 41
- Verstappen - 36
- Russell - 49
- Albon - 52
- Bearman - 41
- Colapinto - 35
- Alonso - 25
- Bortoleto - 8
- Lawson - 8
- Hamilton - 5
- Bottas - 15
Ferrari update
Hamilton has only done five laps this morning and has not been seen since the opening hour. It's understood that the problem actually lies on the chassis side, not power unit, and the plan is to go back out before lunch - so a minor issue, just in a place that's hard to reach meaning it takes time to fix.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images
As we approach the final hour, how about another lap count?
- Norris - 51
- Verstappen - 36
- Russell - 57
- Albon - 52
- Bearman - 46
- Colapinto - 45
- Bortoleto - 11
- Alonso - 29
- Lawson - 9
- Hamilton - 5
- Bottas - 25
'Lotus109' - yes, lots. Just because a car isn't on track, it doesn't mean there's nothing to do as mechanics will be working on the car, data can be analysed, meetings can be happen. There's always something to do...
And with that, that's my live commentary shifts done for the week. So let me take you across the English Channel where 'French Ben' is waiting in the wings!
Thanks Ed! It has been an interesting day so far, let's see what happens next.
By: Autosport Staff
