Norris heads Verstappen and Leclerc on first day of Bahrain pre-season testing

Lando Norris topped the timesheets as pre-season testing kicked off at the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday, leading the way from Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

Norris, who took over from McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri for the afternoon session, worked his way down to a time of 1m 34.669s as day gradually turned to night at the desert venue.

Verstappen, having led the way in the morning, wound up second overall aboard his Red Bull, just 0.129s adrift of 2025 title rival Norris, even if lap times and precise run plans are notoriously difficult to read in testing.

Not only that, but drivers are getting to grips with all-new cars ahead of the 2026 campaign, including overhauled aerodynamics and revised power units, which feature increased electrical power and come with a host of extra modes.

Ferrari driver Leclerc placed third, half a second down on Norris’ time, followed by the Haas of Esteban Ocon, the aforementioned Piastri, the Mercedes of George Russell and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who started the day for the Scuderia.

Another driver to hop into the cockpit for the afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg caused a brief red flag when his Audi stopped just before the final corner, only to make it back to the pits and then rejoin the action some 15 minutes later.

Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Alpine and Williams respectively – the latter team getting some much-needed mileage on the board after they missed the Barcelona Shakedown due to car preparation delays.

Next up were sophomore Mercedes racer Kimi Antonelli and sole 2026 rookie Arvid Lindblad, who enjoyed the entire first day at the wheel of the Racing Bulls while team mate Liam Lawson celebrated his birthday and watched on from the sidelines.

Cadillac split their running between experienced returning duo Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, who sandwiched Gabriel Bortoleto in positions 14 to 16, as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto (who stopped in the morning) brought up the rear.

In terms of mileage, as one of four drivers to spend the whole day on track, Verstappen topped the charts via a very healthy return of more than 130 laps, with Ocon the other to hit the 100-lap milestone individually.

Drivers and teams will now regroup in the Sakhir paddock to dig through the data and prepare for Thursday’s running, with Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, Ollie Bearman and Lawson all set to complete their first laps of the test.