Ferrari continues to surprise the Formula 1 paddock, yet Laurent Mekies is looking elsewhere: according to the Red Bull team principal, it is another team that currently sets the benchmark. As Day 1 of F1 testing in Bahrain comes to an end, Mekies believes there is already a clear reference point — and it is not Ferrari. While he is satisfied with the work completed by his own squad, he is convinced that at least three teams are in a stronger position at this stage. Further updates are expected, with an evolution of the RB22 planned to continue all the way to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and beyond.
At Sakhir, it is Mercedes’ day. The Brackley-based team tops the timesheets on the opening day of the final pre-season test session. The fastest lap belongs to George Russell, who sets a 1:33.459 and completes a total of 76 laps. Just behind him is Oscar Piastri in the McLaren, stopping the clock at 1:33.469, only ten thousandths of a second slower. In third place we find the first of the Ferrari drivers: Charles Leclerc posts a 1:33.739.
With only two days remaining before everything is shipped to Melbourne, anticipation is building to discover the true competitive order on the grid. In the paddock, two teams are generating the most discussion: on one side Mercedes, which remains the favourite, and on the other Ferrari, which continues to make progress with an SF-26 that is now impossible to ignore.
Mekies: “We are behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren”
“We see Mercedes as the fastest team at the moment,” Laurent Mekies begins in Bahrain. “It is a game of assumptions. We think that Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren are probably the three teams, all three of them, quite a bit faster than us at this stage. To tell you by how much or in what order they are placed is probably too difficult, but that is my assumption right now. However, the assumption will change.”
“As far as we are concerned, we will all continue to develop our car. We will all start optimising what we have, and things will change again. But I would say that these three teams are, in our view, clearly one step ahead of everyone else,” concludes the Red Bull team principal.
The first day of testing in Sakhir has established a preliminary hierarchy, with Laurent Mekies identifying Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren as the front-runners of the 2026 season. While Red Bull remains optimistic about their upgrade path for the RB22, the team acknowledges that they currently trail their primary rivals as the paddock prepares for the final push toward the season opener in Melbourne.
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