F1 Bahrain testing live updates: Follow the latest news and times from Day 1 of 2026 preseason event

Sakhir, Bahrain — Formula 1’s final dress rehearsal before the 2026 championship burst into life at the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday, with 11 teams hustling their radically-revised cars through a marathon day of data gathering, start-procedure experiments and lap-time sniping.

George Russell delivered the headline benchmark, a 1:33.459 set on the medium C3 compound, eclipsing Oscar Piastri’s McLaren by one-hundredth of a second and demoting long-time pacesetter Charles Leclerc to third. The order may shift again before Friday’s chequered flag, but Mercedes’ early mileage—56 laps and counting for Russell—underlined a reliability advantage that several rivals could not match.

Red Bull, Aston Martin, Cadillac and Alpine all spent extended spells in the garages. Red Bull’s RBPT-powered RB22 lost the bulk of the opening session to a water-system leak, while Lance Stroll parked his Aston in the Turn-1 gravel, triggering the day’s only red flag. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto provided another heart-in-mouth moment, a heavy lock-up at the end of the main straight sending his Mercedes-engined car deep into the runoff.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Audi logged encouraging mileage, and Williams celebrated symmetry: Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon each completed 55 tours, matching their race numbers, while Lewis Hamilton—now wearing Ferrari red—ended on 44, the digit he made famous at Mercedes. Hamilton’s afternoon was truncated as mechanics swarmed over the rear of the SF-26, suggesting either an engine tweak or a ride-height experiment. He re-emerged for a high-fuel run well adrift of ultimate pace.

The day concluded with an unprecedented 10-minute rehearsal of the FIA’s proposed new start procedure. With the MGU-H deleted for 2026, turbo lag has lengthened the time needed to spool the turbo before a getaway. To prevent another shambolic start like the one witnessed last Friday, the governing body will flash blue on every grid panel for five seconds before the normal red-to-green sequence, giving the back of the field extra preparation time. All cars that took part pulled away without drama, though the process was noticeably slower and louder than in previous seasons.

Off-track, the F1 Commission revealed it is weighing an expansion to 12 sprint weekends as early as 2027—double the current allocation—while teams will vote on an Aug. 1 rule tweak requiring in-cylinder compression ratios to be measured during sessions. Mercedes is widely believed to have found performance with a higher ratio that exploits a grey area in the current wording; the proposed change would legitimise the innovation while giving pursuers time to respond.

Next on the agenda: another full day of running on Thursday, the final opportunity for teams to refine their machines before freight departs for Melbourne, where free practice for the Australian Grand Prix begins on Friday, March 6.