Pre-season testing in Bahrain ended on 20 February (local time). Over the six official days, the fastest lap was a 1m31.992s from Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari on the final day, and McLaren covered the most laps. Aston Martin, by contrast, barely ran on the last day because of problems on the Honda power unit side. Reliability was where the gaps showed most clearly before the season opener.
Final day: Leclerc 1m31.992s
According to the FIA and Formula1.com, Leclerc ran C3 tyres for a 1m32.655s on Friday, then moved a step softer to C4 for his 1m31.992s, and completed 132 laps. Formula1.com called it the fastest time of the whole test. Lando Norris (McLaren) was second on 1m32.871s, 0.879s back, and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) third on 1m33.109s; Verstappen was reported to be on Pirelli prototype tyres.
| Pos | Driver (team) | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leclerc (Ferrari) | 1:31.992 | 132 |
| 2 | Norris (McLaren) | 1:32.871 | 47 |
| 3 | Verstappen (Red Bull) | 1:33.109 | 65 |
| 4 | George Russell (Mercedes) | 1:33.197 | 82 |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly (Alpine) | 1:33.421 | 118 |
This table is the FIA's final-day (Bahrain test 2, day 3) result. The FIA's prose calls Kimi Antonelli's day-two 1m32.803s on C3 the second-quickest time of the test and Oscar Piastri's day-two 1m32.861s the third, with Norris fourth overall. Even within the source, the daily table and the prose differ, so read the order as a per-day ranking. Antonelli stopped on track in the morning with a pneumatic pressure problem, which brought out the red flag, and his W17 needed a power unit change.
Six-day laps: McLaren 817, Aston Martin 334
In PlanetF1's six-day official-test totals, published on 21 February, McLaren led with 817 laps and was described as the only team to pass 800 laps in Bahrain. Haas (794) and Williams (790) followed, with Ferrari on 754 and Mercedes on 714. These totals exclude the closed-doors Barcelona shakedown.
PlanetF1 judged Red Bull's first in-house power unit to have run remarkably reliably. In the same piece, Mercedes covered 432 of its 714 laps in the second test, and Alpine and Williams had no major trouble with their Mercedes power.
Aston Martin: battery problem and parts shortage
Aston Martin's six-day total of 334 laps is the lowest of the 11 teams. Honda said on Thursday 19 February that Friday's run plan would be "very limited" because a battery-related issue had curtailed Fernando Alonso's running. According to the FIA, a parts shortage left Lance Stroll with just six untimed laps on Friday, and Formula1.com reported that the team finished its programme with just over two hours of the session remaining.
How to read it
Testing times do not translate directly into a grid order, because fuel loads and engine modes are not disclosed. What is established is Leclerc's best time, McLaren passing 800 laps and Aston Martin's short mileage. Whether those gaps carry into the opener will be answered by the race itself.