F1 Testing: Mercedes set fastest times of week but George Russell warns of 'scary' Red Bull amid pecking order uncertainty

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and George Russell set the fastest times on the final day of the first Bahrain test ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton amid continued claims and counter claims from F1's four leading teams about who is really 2026's early leading force.

Russell had topped Friday's morning session with a then test-best quickest lap of 1:33.918 before team-mate Antonelli twice went faster during his afternoon in the car.

The Italian youngster finished up posting a 1:33.669 to set the benchmark for the first week of running in Sakhir.

Hamilton ran all day in the Ferrari SF-26 with his third-best time of 1:34.209 set during his morning's running.

The seven-time world champion racked up a mammoth 138 laps, although the car did not make it back to the pit lane at the end of the day under its own steam after Hamilton had to pull over in the Turn Four run-off area with just over 10 minutes of the day to run.

Ferrari have not yet confirmed whether the car suffered a reliability glitch, or it was simply a precautionary stoppage.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who also had a busy full day of running, was fourth fastest in the world champions' MCL40 after 153 laps, eight tenths slower than Antonelli.

Red Bull split their running between Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjkar and neither troubled the top of Friday's timesheet, both drivers finishing over 1.5s back on Antonelli's time in fifth and sixth places respectively.

However, echoing comments made by his team boss Toto Wolff on Wednesday, Russell said Red Bull and their first-ever power unit were actually the combination to beat heading into next week's final test.

"Probably the most concerning thing for everyone is looking at Red Bull's performance, especially on their engine side, they look a step above everyone else," suggested Russell.

Russell added to the written media: "You're talking in the order of half a second to a second in deployment over the course of a lap. So, it's pretty scary to see that difference."

But Red Bull themselves have continued to point to bookmakers' title favourites Mercedes as having the best package so far, while both Russell and McLaren's Lando Norris have talked up Ferrari's pace as Leclerc showed an eye-catching afternoon long run on Thursday.

"Ferrari were quick but clearly Mercedes on one lap were very, very quick today in bad conditions," said Pierre Wache, Red Bull's technical director.

"It's difficult to judge but it looks like we are behind on our side. We also did a race simulation yesterday, so some stuff to improve. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are there at the top."

But as Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz quipped: "Between the top four teams it's a case of pass the parcel!"

More to follow...

Test Two: Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th, Friday 20th February

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