F1 Bahrain pre-season test: Russell fastest from Hamilton in morning session

George Russell topped the final morning session of Formula 1’s first Bahrain pre-season test, leading Lewis Hamilton.

Russell set the fastest time of the week so far less than half an hour into Friday’s running, with a 1m34.075s on soft tyres. Thirty minutes later, the Mercedes driver improved his own benchmark to a 1m33.918s, precisely as Ferrari’s Hamilton set a 1m34.209s.

Nobody else lapped any quicker than 1m35s, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull in 1m35.341s, followed by Haas’ Oliver Bearman in 1m35.972s and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 1m36.390s.

Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz took sixth and seventh for Alpine and Williams respectively, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson half a tenth slower than the Spaniard after using exclusively medium tyres over his 84 laps this morning – more mileage than anyone.

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who ran almost exclusively on the hard compound before a late run on softs, led Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The Canadian was 4.5 seconds off the pace, which ironically is precisely what he said the AMR26 was lacking in performance.

After Cadillac caused an early red flag on Thursday when Sergio Perez stopped on track – though its yet-to-be-named car went on to complete a 105-lap day – Valtteri Bottas managed just eight laps this morning before suffering the same fate.

It took nearly two hours for Cadillac to sort the issue. The Finnish veteran was able to cover 37 laps, but still propped up the time sheet.

F1 Bahrain pre-season test - Day 3 morning results