Day 3 Bahrain F1 testing morning: fastest laps and standings

Day 3 Bahrain F1 testing morning: fastest laps and standings. Get the full morning session results from day 3 of the Bahrain F1 pre-season testing.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari SF-26, tire, front wing, garage

Bahrain test day 3 morning: Russell leads, Hamilton and Verstappen follow

Mercedes finally makes a strong statement in these pre-season Bahrain tests. After a few challenging days that mainly affected a very unlucky Andrea Kimi Antonelli, George Russell delivered the fastest time of the morning session with the W17. While his 1:33.9 lap is impressive, the most reassuring statistic is the 78 laps completed, highlighting a car that seems to have regained the reliability it showed in Spain.

Behind Russell’s Silver Arrow appears his former teammate, Lewis Hamilton, confirming the good form Ferrari drivers have been showing recently. Hamilton finished just three-tenths of a second behind the session leader. Even more encouraging is that he completed nearly 70 laps in four hours of running, sending positive signals back to Maranello.

In third place, almost one and a half seconds off George Russell’s pace, is Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. McLaren, on the other hand, clearly did not focus on lap-time performance, with Oscar Piastri finishing fifth—again behind a strong Haas—recording 2.4 seconds slower than the fastest time of the day. At the bottom of the standings, Cadillac struggled once more with technical issues, leaving Valtteri Bottas unable to complete more than 37 laps.