Kimi and George Complete Trouble Free Day in Bahrain

• The penultimate day of pre-season testing took place in Bahrain on Thursday (19 February), with the team racking up 157 laps of running.

• George 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 took over for the afternoon and managed 80 laps before the chequered flag fell.

• As part of single lap work on the C3 compound, Kimi set the fastest time of the day with a 1:32.803.

• For tomorrow’s final day of pre-season running, Kimi will be in the car for the morning before George takes over for the afternoon.

George Russell

After a solid opening day yesterday, we had more productive running in Bahrain this morning. 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.

Kimi Antonelli

We continue to make up for the lost ground we suffered in the first test here in Bahrain. 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.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We've had another good day of running, completing 157 trouble free laps. 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.