Photo: Race Pictures

Russell and Mercedes shine beyond outright speed on day one in Bahrain

17:22, 18 Feb

byTobia Elia

George Russell was the most active driver on track on the opening day of week two of Bahrain testing in terms of laps completed.

The Mercedes driver claimed a double milestone, completing a class-leading 76 laps after also setting the fastest time of the day late in the session, displacing Piastri in the closing stages.

The second most active driver was Arvid Lindblad, with the Racing Bulls rookie logging just one lap fewer than Russell. Third on the list was Gabriel Bortoleto with 71 laps, as Audi appear to be steadily improving reliability.

Leclerc and Piastri both ended the day on 70 laps apiece, with the Ferrari driver running exclusively in the morning, while Piastri brought the day to a close for McLaren in the afternoon. Below is the full lap count classification per drivers and teams.

Photo: Race Pictures

Bahrain testing, Day 1 (Week 2): lap count per driver

Pos	Driver	Laps
1	Russell	76
2	Lindblad	75
3	Bortoleto	71
4	Piastri	70
5	Leclerc	70
6	Antonelli	69
7	Hadjar	66
8	Ocon	65
9	Lawson	61
10	Gasly	61
11	Colapinto	60
12	Sainz	55
13	Albon	55
14	Norris	54
15	Hulkenberg	49
16	Bearman	42
17	Hamilton	44
18	Bottas	35
19	Alonso	28
20	Stroll	26
21	Perez	24

Bahrain testing, Day 1 (Week 2): lap count per team

Team	Total laps
Mercedes	145
Racing Bulls	136
McLaren	124
Alpine	121
Audi	120
Ferrari	114
Williams	110
Haas	107
Red Bull	66
Cadillac	59
Aston Martin	54

Russell pips Piastri at the death as Mercedes end day one fastest in Bahrain

As previously noted, the Mercedes driver stole the spotlight late in the day by setting the outright fastest time across the opening eight hours, with McLaren right on his heels.

The Australian had led the way for much of the afternoon session before being bumped down the order by the Briton, who sealed the day with a 1:33.459 — just 10 thousandths clear of the MCL40.

Hadjar was also quite active in the afternoon, ending up third quickest among those who ran after lunch. The Frenchman briefly held the absolute best time in the opening sector and ultimately finished seven tenths adrift of the pace-setter.

Read the full report here.