Six of the grid’s 22 drivers did not take part on day two.
Lawson’s time on day two of the second test was also 2.276s faster than his best mark from last week’s first round, which also saw him post the fastest top-speed of day three.
All of Lawson’s runs on the first two days of the second round of testing came on medium and hard tyres.
With three sessions completed across the first two days, Lawson will vacate the car overnight on Friday for teammate Arvid Lindblad to conclude Racing Bulls’ testing for the week.
Lawson’s lap was 1.729s back from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who posted the fastest time of the day with a 1m 32.803s, the best of pre-season so far. As was the case on day one, a Mercedes was fractionally ahead of a McLaren, as Oscar Piastri posted a lap of 1m 32.861s, to be 0.058s back.
Both teams, along with Alpine and Williams, are running Mercedes power units, expected to be the strongest of 2026 after exploiting a loophole in Formula One’s new regulations.
As the only driver to sit out day one, former world champion Max Verstappen was third after his 139 laps, 0.359s off Antonelli’s best effort.
Things weren’t so smooth for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who could only manage 68 laps across the entirety of day two, and finished 15th, more than four seconds off the pace to continue Aston Martin’s struggles.
This second week in Bahrain is the last official opportunity for teams to test their new cars, before the Formula One season begins in Melbourne next month.
Both McLaren and Mercedes will, however, get a wet tyre test in Bahrain at the end of February. However, they will both use mule cars, as opposed to their official 2026 entries.
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
