The penultimate day of pre-season testing sees Mercedes continue to set the pace, while Aston Martin's struggles continue.
In many ways the penultimate day of testing has been somewhat uneventful with no major shocks or surprises.
That said, Ferrari certainly caused a stir this morning when Lewis Hamilton headed out with a new rear wing. Quite how to describe it isn't easy, and the initial description of an 'upside down' wing doesn't begin to tell the story.
In effect, the upper plane 'rotates', like a revolving door, completely flipping around in a bid to reduce drag when in 'Straight Mode'.
"I don't know what is the purpose of that," admitted Pedro de la Rosa, "It looks a slow way of bringing the downforce back," he added. "I don't know.
"Every decision on car design is taking into account weight," he continued. "In the past, it was what is better for aero, full stop. Now it is what is better for aero and is light. You have to balance all that out and you have the cost cap on top, so you cannot have an unlimited number of wings."
It's been said that other teams will either look on it as some sort of gimmick or head to the drawing board and come up with their own versions, with James Vowles quick to praise the Maranello outfit.
"Well done to them, they are coming up with great innovations," said the Williams boss.
'Gimmicks' aside, it wasn't a trouble-free day for the Italian team which had Hamilton on duty all day. Various issues meant track time was lost in both sessions, however, other than eventually ending the day fourth quickest, the Briton made lightning starts in both of the official race start rehearsals.
The 16 drivers on duty completed 1,279 laps, with Max Verstappen (139) leading the way, ahead of Colapinto (120), Albon (117) and Lawson (106). McLaren (158) edged out Mercedes (156), while Ferrari completed just 78 and Aston Martin 68.
It's been said that the upgrades will come thick and fast this season, and Red Bull has already introduced a new floor, engine cover and sidepods, with other teams also adding new bits here and there as the data is analysed.
As on previous days we've seen lock-ups and offs aplenty with Turn 10 proving the most problematic. However, as the drivers become accustomed to the new cars we are starting to see them battle, and over the course of the day we witnessed a few scraps, which, though short, hopefully offered a taste of what's to come.
The only red flag of the day - other than those used during the systems tests - came courtesy of Aston Martin, when Alonso stopped on track an hour into the evening session. The car still 'live', members of the team had to rescue the stricken AMR26.
At a time Juan Pablo Montoya is claiming the Silverstone-based outfit is sand-bagging, yes really, the looks on the faces of team members tell a different story. Yesterday, Lawrence Stroll was spotted in conversation with Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile.
Nothing strange about that you might say, but the discussion was outside the team's motor home on the veranda, which allowed at least one enterprising soul to use AI to try and lipread their conversation.
This afternoon, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri both carried out race sims almost simultaneously, and while a number of other drivers have completed race sims, Hamilton has not had the required reliability. However, the Briton left the opposition for dead at both practice starts.
Only four drivers took part this morning, and while 'pole man' George Russell was very slow off the line, Hamilton blasted past him, as did Bearman in the Ferrari-powered Haas, while Norris was also very slow getting away.
This evening, despite a late scare which saw Piastri pull off track, nine drivers took part and again Hamilton was quickest off the grid, once again with a Haas - this time driven by Ocon - in hot pursuit.
It's still hard to think about a pecking order, and while - in no particular order - Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari - are at the front, each has its own question mark in terms of form, pace and reliability, aside from all the usual caveats.
That said, Mercedes clearly has pace and reliability, though, as Toto Wolff so helpfully pointed out, the German team has issues that still need to be addressed.
"Red Bull looked really good until we started talking about their power unit and they turned it down, which is amusing," said James Vowles. "Of course, it is never that simple," he admitted, "but it is true the moment one team appears to be cranking up the pace, they immediately reverse into the pack to try to hide again.
"Mercedes came out the box really strong," he added. However, asked what he sees as the pecking order, he replied: "The games people are playing with power units and fuel, it is really hard to tell. You will see swings race to race as different circuits will suit different power units."
If one were to go out on a limb, looking at the midfield, Alpine is looking much improved, while Audi must be considered a dark horse.
Incidentally, Bortoleto set exactly the same time two days running, to one-thousandth of a second.
George Russell was in the W17 for the morning and completed 77 laps, more than any other driver in the pre-lunch session. His programme was primarily focused on continuing to evaluate the recent updates brought to the car along with set-up work. Kimi Antonelli took over for the afternoon and managed 80 laps before the chequered flag. As part of single lap work on the C3 compound, the Italian set the fastest time of the day with a 1:32.803.
"After a solid opening day yesterday, we had more productive running this morning," said Russell. "Once again, our programme wasn't necessarily focused on finding pure performance but understanding our updates and more about the W17. We were able to do that whilst completing the most laps of anyone in the morning session.
"We now have one final day on-track before we head to Melbourne. Whilst we have made up for the lost running in test one, we still have a very full programme to work through tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting back out in the car in the afternoon and focused on helping the team leave Bahrain in the strongest possible position. We've seen some impressive single lap work and long runs from our competitors yet again today so adding to our mileage on Friday is very important.
"We continue to make up for the lost ground we suffered in the first test," added Antonelli. "That was our aim coming into this final pre-season test and hopefully we can make tomorrow count too. With just one more day in the car before we head to Melbourne, every lap counts.
"Our programme today contained lots of set-up work along with some single lap running. We were able to get through everything we had planned and end the day P1. Whilst that is positive, the gaps between those at the front are already incredibly small and down to a matter of hundredths today. We will continue to push hard, look to finish this test well, and hope to be in the fight near the front come the first race in Australia."
"We've had another good day of running, completing 157 trouble free laps," said Andrew Shovlin. "That has helped us to recover a good chunk of the ground we lost with several stoppages last week. We have continued to split our days with George running this morning and Kimi in the cooler conditions of the evening. Despite the difference in conditions, the programme for both was mainly focused on set-up work on the C3 tyre. We managed to get through several test items which is useful as we build our understanding of the W17 and the 2026 Pirelli tyres.
"As it was Kimi's last evening session, we had a look at lower fuel running towards the end of the day with the conditions closest to those that we'll see here in qualifying in a few weeks' time. That providing him with useful learning and showed just how competitive the front of the field seems to be already. Hopefully we can have another solid day tomorrow to round off pre-season testing before we head to Melbourne."
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