Mercedes topped the final day of Bahrain testing with Kimi Antonelli setting the fastest lap at 1:33.669, while George Russell cautioned that Red Bull remains the team to beat despite their sixth and fifth-place finishes. Lewis Hamilton placed third in the Ferrari SF-26 with a best time of 1:34.209 after completing 138 laps, though his session ended early with a car issue.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri finished fourth in the MCL40 after 153 laps, while Red Bull split running between Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, both finishing over 1.5 seconds off Antonelli's pace. Russell suggested Red Bull's power unit performance showed a half-second to one-second advantage in deployment over a lap, calling their performance "pretty scary to see."

Despite Mercedes' strong showing, Red Bull's technical director Pierre Wache maintained that Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari remain the top teams, while Russell and Lando Norris have praised Ferrari's pace. The conflicting assessments highlight the uncertainty surrounding the 2026 pecking order as teams head into next week's final pre-season test in Bahrain.