George Russell clocked the fastest time during Wednesday’s in-season Formula 1 test session in Bahrain, but not for Williams.
The Williams driver Russell joined forces with Mercedes – whose junior programme he has been with since 2017 – to carry out running in the W10 on Wednesday.
Russell set a time of 1:29.029 with 10 minutes remaining in the day, in the wake of his run plan being interrupted by a small water leak, and followed it up with a marginally slower 1:29.034, to finish 0.066s clear of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez in predominantly warm and overcast conditions at Sakhir.
Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari while Carlos Sainz Jr. completed tyre testing for Pirelli during the morning but switched to the McLaren-run MCL34 in the afternoon and classified fourth.
Daniil Kvyat again carried out tyre development work for Formula 1’s sole supplier and took fifth.
Following his Ferrari debut on Tuesday reigning Formula 3 champion Mick Schumacher switched to Alfa Romeo to gain further Formula 1 experience and placed sixth, completing 70 laps.
Alexander Albon was the most productive driver, amassing 140 laps, as the rookie continued to get up to speed in the championship and bagged seventh spot.
Perez’s Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll drove the RP19 during the morning session and classified eighth.
Red Bull handed a maiden Formula 1 test run to last year’s Formula 3 runner-up Dan Ticktum and the British youngster finished ninth overall.
Haas split running between Romain Grosjean and tester Pietro Fittipaldi and the duo sandwiched Fernando Alonso, who returned to McLaren action on behalf of Pirelli.
Lando Norris carried out the bulk of running in the McLaren-run MCL34 but was shuffled down to 13th place by the end of the day, having handed over to Sainz Jr. after lunch.
Renault tester Jack Aitken carried out a day of running in the R.S.19, taking over from Daniel Ricciardo, and took 14th.
Williams reserve driver Nicholas Latifi got behind the wheel of the FW42 for the first time and finished 15th, 3.1s behind pacesetter Perez.
Formula 1 action will resume next Friday at the Chinese Grand Prix.
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| 1 | G. Russell | Mercedes | 1:29.029 | C5 | 101 | |
| 2 | S. Perez | Racing Point | 1:29.095 | 0.066 | C5 | 60 |
| 3 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:29.319 | 0.289 | C3 | 102 |
| 4 | C. Sainz | McLaren | 1:29.795 | 0.765 | C3 | 20 |
| 5 | D. Kvyat | Pirelli (Toro Rosso) | 1:29.911 | 0.881 | N/A | 111 |
| 6 | M. Schumacher | Alfa Romeo | 1:29.998 | 0.968 | C5 | 70 |
| 7 | A. Albon | Toro Rosso | 1:30.037 | 1.007 | C4 | 143 |
| 8 | L. Stroll | Racing Point | 1:30.049 | 1.019 | C5 | 35 |
| 9 | D. Ticktum | Red Bull | 1:30.856 | 1.827 | C4 | 134 |
| 10 | R. Grosjean | Haas | 1:30.903 | 1.874 | C4 | 86 |
| 11 | F. Alonso | Pirelli (McLaren) | 1:31.006 | 1.976 | N/A | 69 |
| 12 | P. Fittipaldi | Haas | 1:31.209 | 2.179 | C3 | 48 |
| 13 | L. Norris | McLaren | 1:31.303 | 2.273 | C2 | 72 |
| 14 | J. Aitken | Renault | 1:31.500 | 2.470 | C4 | 103 |
| 15 | N. Latifi | Williams | 1:32.198 | 3.168 | C4 | 100 |
| 16 | C. Sainz | Pirelli (McLaren) | 1:32.269 | 3.239 | N/A | 60 |
