Leclerc Tops Day Two of Pre Season Testing

Morning Session

It was a challenging morning session for Mercedes, with Kimi Antonelli only completing three laps before heading back into the garage with power unit issues. In the neighbouring garage, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar completed only one lap around the Bahrain International Circuit.

With Verstappen finishing yesterday‘s AM session at the top of the timesheet, the Milton Keyes outlet was hoping to continue their form. However, as the track was opened, Hadjar was left in the garage with a hydraulic leak.

Elsewhere on track, Norris, who was first out on track, banked 64 laps in the opening session. At the other end of the pit lane, Cadillac’s Sergio Perez brought out the first red flag just 10 minutes the session. The Cadillac coming to a stop on track. Running soon continued as the teams resumed their programmes.

In terms of the timesheets, Leclerc set the benchmark of 1:34.273s, half a second clear of Norris. While Alpine’s Pierre Gasly placed in third with a 1:36.723s.

Afternoon Session

Mercedes, Williams and Cadillac were all slow to start the second session of the day, coming out at least 30 minutes after the lights went green.

Cadillac once again brought out a red flag, with Valterri Bottas losing parts of his side mirror along the main straight. The red flag was brought out once more as Gasly stopped on the entrance to Turn 1.

After a strong end to 2025, Bearman has once again brought the pace, clocking 130 laps over the whole day. The 2026 Hass has showed strong reliability so far in testing, with Esteban Ocon clocking 115 laps yesterday.

After strong shakedown results, Mercedes reliability was tested in Day 2. Even though George Russell was able to jump to fourth on the timings, he only clocked 54 laps this afternoon.

After a slow morning, Hadjar managed to clock 86 laps in the afternoon session, ending up just over two seconds behind Leclerc in fifth. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad also had strong afternoon on track. The rookie clocked 82 laps, sitting himself 11th on the timesheet.

After 139 laps, It was Leclerc morning lap that topped Day 2 of Pre Season Testing. Behind the Ferrari, Norris sat in second after banking 149 laps in both sessions.