Report: 141 laps cap off Bahrain testing programme

Carlos completes final pre-season running as mileage total passes 4,250km

Published

20 FEB 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

Atlassian Williams F1 Team wrapped up Formula 1’s second official pre-season test in Bahrain with a further 141 laps on the final day of running, as Carlos Sainz completed the FW48’s last outing before the season-opening race weekend in Melbourne.

Carlos took on driving duties for both sessions in Sakhir. In the morning, he accumulated 66 laps and set a best time of 1:35.252 to end the session P8.

Returning to the track for the afternoon and evening running, Carlos added a further 75 tours of the Bahrain International Circuit, including both race and qualifying simulations, bringing his total for the day to 141 laps, the equivalent of 763km.

He improved his benchmark time to a 1:34.342 in the twilight running, finishing the day P10 on the timesheets.

Across all six days of running in Bahrain, the team completed 790 laps, the third-highest total of any constructor. This equates to 4,275km of crucial pre-season data gathered ahead of the new campaign.

With testing now complete, focus turns fully to Melbourne, where the FW48 will next hit the track for the first Grand Prix weekend of the season.

Carlos Sainz:

“The past six days of testing in Bahrain has been one of the most interesting and challenging tests that I’ve been part of, given the new regulations and number of things we had to learn. The progress from day one has been significant, although there are still going to be things to understand and solve at the start of the season. “We go into the first half of the year with lower expectations than 2025 knowing that we’ll be starting slightly on the back foot. However, I’m really looking forward to getting started and focusing on improving the cars through the year to become more competitive. Bring on Melbourne!”

Alex Albon:

“It’s been a relatively smooth test here in Bahrain. We got some good mileage under our belts and tested everything we wanted to get out of the car, so I’m feeling more ready for Melbourne. There’s still a lot we need to understand and plenty of performance left on the table that we need to extract, but I’m glad the tests went to plan. It’s now all about maximising the next few days to prepare for the first race of the year!

James Vowles, Team Principal:

“Another solid day of running and mileage. It's great to see that across the last six days of testing, we've been predominantly tyre and time limited, and able to complete the full programme that we wanted. That's just a testament to the hard work of the teams, both here and in Grove, making sure that we made up for lost time.

“No one truly knows where all the performance lies. That's what Melbourne is all about, so I can't wait to go there, to gain a further understanding of where we are. What I know for sure, though, is we have work to do. There's no doubt about it. We've put ourselves on the back foot. But my assurance to everyone is that we have an aggressive programme lining up in front of us in order to make sure that we extract as much performance in this car as possible over the forthcoming months.”

Official 2026 Team Kit

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Report: 141 laps cap off Bahrain testing programme

Carlos completes final pre-season running as mileage total passes 4,250km