Charles Leclerc ensured Ferrari ended preseason testing in style with a scintillating set of late laps in Bahrain that will increase hype around the Italian team’s 2026 chances.
Leclerc finished the final day nearly 0.9 seconds clear of the next quickest car — that of new world champion Lando Norris in the McLaren — which is a sizeable margin over one lap in modern F1.
He was also nearly a full second clear of early championship favourite George Russell’s Mercedes’ quickest time, which was also set in the final hour of the day.
The performance of Ferrari, who have not won a drivers’ championship since 2007 or a constructors’ championship since 2008, will be eye-watering for fans of F1’s most famous and storied team ahead of the season opener at the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.
Leclerc repeatedly posted the quickest lap time across the final hour before demonstrating another rocket start off the grid at the end of the session, which appears to be an area the Italian manufacturer is a significant step ahead compared with the rest of the field.
Leclerc’s sublime 132-lap day also included a very impressive race simulation for good measure and will surely raise the attention on him and seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton going into Melbourne’s race.
One caveat is that no-one in Formula 1 believes Mercedes has come close to showing its full deck of cards, either on the final day or across the two weeks in Bahrain as a whole, but there is also no way of knowing whether Ferrari has come close to doing so either.
Many in the paddock believe Mercedes and Ferrari head to the opening race top of the competitive order, but McLaren and Red Bull’s positions relative to their two Big Four rivals is also hard to gauge.
Leclerc’s final hour ensured the headlines of the final day of testing would be shared between Ferrari and the shambolic Aston Martin-Honda project, which was limited to just six laps.
Aston Martin’s dismal preseason ended with a damp squib, with power unit issues for new engine partner Honda meaning the team wrapped up the final day early.
Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll has poured big money into building a super team fronted by F1 design legend Adrian Newey, but the team appears to have an overweight, uncompetitive engine and a litany of problems going to Melbourne’s opener.
Aston Martin is believed to have struggled with integrating its new power unit, while its also not fully on top of its gearbox, which the team is building itself for the first time after years of supply from former engine partner Mercedes.
Having promised to become title contenders under F1’s new regulations, Aston Martin appears to be heading to Melbourne set for a battle with start-up team Cadillac simply to not occupy the final row of the grid.
Those early championship dreams appear to have vanished for Aston Martin before a competitive lap has even been completed, with many in the paddock believing the team will be in deep trouble for most of the coming season.
New world champion Lando Norris set the second quickest time of the final day and had a getaway off the line at the end of the session which suggested McLaren has found a solution to some of the sluggish getaways seen earlier in testing.
F1’s sweeping new regulations have introduced engines with a near 50/50 split between combustion and electrical power, which has produced a long list of new issues and quirks for teams to solve before round one.
One of those has been the length of time it takes the new turbos to spin up to the speed required to move off the line.
Ferrari’s decision to build a smaller turbo than its rivals appears to have given it an edge on starts.
Earlier in the day, bookies favourite George Russell said the practice starts he’s done of the grid this year were “worse than my worst ever start,” and teammate Kimi Antonelli’s appeared to be fairly ordinary — especially compared to the Ferrari — at the end of the day.
Russell set a couple of good laps at the end of the day, but did so on Pirelli’s unmarked testing tyre, so it is hard to really read too much into his final deficit to Leclerc without some suspicion that there is significantly more to come.
Mercedes customer Alpine had another strong day of mileage, with Pierre Gasly accumulating 118 laps, but it was the 170 completed either side of lunch by Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon in the Ferrari-powered Haas which led the day in terms of outright laps completed by a single team.
Arvid Lindblad, 2026’s only rookie, did 165 laps for Racing Bulls ahead of his debut race, while Carlos Sainz had a busy day with 141 laps for a Williams team still playing catch-up after missing F1’s behind-closed-doors shakedown event which kicked off the preseason.
Manufacturer debutant Audi, which has taken over the Sauber team, had a productive day with 135 laps.
New F1 team Cadillac managed 99 laps, with experienced duo Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas sharing duties across the day.
Final lap times as testing comes to a close:
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:31.992, 132 laps
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Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:32.871, 47 laps
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Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:33.109, 65 laps
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George Russell, Mercedes, 1:33.197, 82 laps
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Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:33.421, 118 laps
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Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:33.487, 88 laps
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Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, 1:33.755, 71 laps
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Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:33.916, 49 laps
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Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, 1:34.149, 165 laps
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Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:34.342, 141 laps
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Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:34.352, 66 laps
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Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:34.494, 82 laps
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Isack Hadjar, Red Bull, 1:34.511, 59 laps
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Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, 1:35.290, 38 laps
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Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, 1:36.019, 64 laps
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Sergio Perez, Cadillac, 1:40.842, 61 laps
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, no time set, 6 laps.
