Mercedes wrapped up the second week of pre-season testing in Bahrain with encouraging feedback from its drivers about the potential of the W17. However, the final day on track at the Sakhir circuit brought back some of the concerns already seen the previous week, particularly regarding reliability. A technical issue during the morning session interrupted Kimi Antonelli’s run plan and limited his track time. In the afternoon, George Russell took over the car and completed the test program for the Silver Arrows.
Antonelli: “A disappointing ending due to a PU issue, but we have a solid base”
Day 6 was not the ideal conclusion Mercedes had hoped for, as Kimi Antonelli was forced to end his program early because of a problem that emerged midway through the morning session. The Italian driver had to stop a long run simulation he was carrying out as part of the team’s race preparation work.
“We had a disappointing end to pre-season testing due to a problem with the Power Unit that prevented us from continuing this morning. We’ve had several reliability issues here in Bahrain and that has limited the mileage I’ve been able to do with the W17,” Antonelli said while summing up his weekend.
The problems encountered today add to those experienced during the previous week, further restricting valuable track time. “It’s frustrating for everyone in the team, but that’s what testing is for. Before today’s interruption, we were still able to complete 49 laps and it was useful learning. Now we have a short evaluation period before heading to Melbourne. We have a solid base to build on, but we know we must continue improving if we want to fight at the front. There are several areas we need to focus on, in addition to bringing overall performance to the car, and everyone in Brackley and Brixworth is already working on that.”
Russell: “We recovered part of the program in the afternoon. The competitive picture is similar to previous days”
With 82 laps completed during the four-hour afternoon session, George Russell helped recover much of the lost track time from the morning setback. “It’s a shame that we, as a team, lost some more time due to reliability issues,” the British driver summarized at the end of the day.
“Kimi has borne the brunt of these problems during testing in Bahrain, which is a real pity. The most important thing, though, is that we managed to recover a good portion of the program in the afternoon.”
Russell highlighted positive signs in terms of car understanding and the underlying performance potential of the W17, even if the true competitive order will only become clear at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
“The competitive picture has remained similar to previous days. We’ve looked at the comparison with several of our rivals near the front, but it’s clear, with Ferrari ahead on the timesheets and McLaren and Red Bull following closely behind, that we need to keep working hard to bring more performance. It looks like it will be a tight fight in Melbourne and we hope to be part of it.”
Power Unit issue overshadows an otherwise positive week for Mercedes
Echoing Russell’s cautious tone was Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, who offered a balanced assessment of the test.
“Unfortunately, our final day of pre-season testing was not perfect,” the Mercedes engineer said. “We had a Power Unit issue that limited Kimi’s running to 49 laps. Despite that, we did a good job of getting back out on track relatively early in the afternoon and, overall, we were able to complete a lot of useful work with both drivers. Today we kept the focus on preparation items and long-run consistency, which allowed us to cover quite a bit of ground.”
From a mileage perspective, Mercedes can still take encouragement. Across the three test sessions, the team completed the highest number of laps overall: 500 in Barcelona, 282 during the first week in Bahrain and 432 in the second week, for a total of 1,214 laps. That figure puts Mercedes just ahead of Ferrari, which accumulated 1,187 laps over the same three sessions.
“The competitive picture is not yet entirely clear,” Shovlin continued, “but we know we have a lot of work ahead of us as we finalize preparations for Melbourne. We’ve put together a solid foundation to build on, we’re looking forward to the challenge ahead and we’re curious to see how the W17 performs in race conditions.”
As the teams prepare to ship their cars to Australia, Mercedes finds itself in a race against time to ensure their innovative Power Unit is as bulletproof as it is fast. The high lap count is a testament to the car’s general design, but the intermittent failures suggest that the margin for error in the 2026 era is incredibly slim. If the engineers at Brixworth can iron out these final technical glitches, the W17 has all the ingredients to be a front-runner from the very first green light in Melbourne. The battle of the factories has only just begun, and Mercedes is determined to ensure their solid base translates into podium results.
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