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George Russellconcluded the final morning session of Formula 1’s initial Bahrain pre-season test, taking the leadLewis Hamilton.

Russell recorded the quickest time of the week so far just under half an hour into Friday’s session, posting a 1m34.075s on soft tires. Thirty minutes later, theMercedesThe driver enhanced his own record to 1 minute 33.918 seconds, exactly asFerrari’s Hamilton set a 1m34.209s.

No one else completed a lap faster than 1 minute 35 seconds, withMax Verstappenthird for Red Bull in 1m35.341s, then Haas’Oliver Bearman in 1m35.972s and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 1m36.390s.

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Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainztook sixth and seventh placesAlpine and Williams respectively, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawsonhalf a tenth of a second slower than the Spaniard after using only medium tires for his 84 laps this morning – more laps than anyone else.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who primarily used the hard compound before a final stint on softs, led Aston Martin’sLance StrollThe Canadian was 4.5 seconds behind, which is ironicallyexactly what he mentioned the AMR26 was missing in terms of performance.

Following a premature red flag on Thursday caused by Cadillac whenSergio Perezhalted on the track – although its unnamed vehicle continued to finish a 105-lap day –Valtteri Bottasonly completed eight laps this morning before encountering the same issue.

It took almost two hours for Cadillac to resolve the problem. The Finnish veteran completed 37 laps, yet still remained at the top of the timesheet.

F1 Bahrain pre-season testing – Day 3 morning outcomes