2026 Bahrain Pre-Season Testing – Week 2 – Day 3 Recap

TGR Haas F1 Team closed out proceedings at the Sakhir track with another productive day putting the VF-26 through its paces, with Esteban Ocon running the morning session and Ollie Bearman driving in the afternoon.

Ocon’s final stint produced 82 laps and a best time around the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile) track of 1:34.494, the Frenchman finishing his run program with a race simulation through to the lunch break.

Bearman enjoyed an equally busy session from the afternoon into the evening, the Brit also working through a race sim, followed by qualifying sim laps and pit stop practice to take the team to the checkered flag on Friday at 19:00 local. Bearman’s fastest lap was a 1:33.487 from a total of 88 banked – taking the team’s tally on the day to 170 laps, it’s highest single-day count across the two Bahrain tests.

TGR Haas F1 Team logged a total of 794 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit across the six days of pre-season testing – equating to 4297.12 kilometers (2670.22 miles).

The opening round of the 24-race 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship – the Australian Grand Prix, is set for March 6-8 at Melbourne’s Albert Park.

Ayao Komatsu – Team Principal:

“The final pre-season test has now concluded, and I have to say it’s been a very productive last test. Every day we’ve learned a significant amount, improving the car a little bit, and both drivers have been working really well with the team – and their feedback is the same. It’s really good to split the day – morning and afternoon – and then confirm certain things, finding and understanding items, to get more performance out of the car. I’m really happy with the progress we’ve made, and our reliability has been great. Of course it hasn’t been problem free, but that’s pre-season testing, and the positive thing is we’re dealing with it in the right manner – understanding performance and actioning what we’ve learned.

“As far as pre-season preparations go, I think it’s been a really good effort from the entire team, so thank you to everyone involved throughout the process. It was a huge effort to go from Fiorano, then running in Barcelona two days later, then from that to come here to Bahrain and now to the final day of testing. We’ve put in a decent performance with the car and completed two race simulations which is a very good effort. The real challenge starts now ahead of the first race in Melbourne, but as a team, especially being the smallest team, I think we can be proud of ourselves and how we got here.”

Esteban Ocon:

“I think once again we’ve had no major issues with the car today. We completed the program as well as the test items to continue work on trying to get more front-end with the car – that’s been positive. Ollie’s had a good afternoon which is encouraging, and I hope that the team continues to develop further with everything we’ve learned from these tests.”

Ollie Bearman:

“Final day complete in Bahrain and I’m really proud of the hard work that the whole team has put in over pre-season testing. The steps that we’ve made have been super impressive, and today was by far the most productive of the test.”