Wrap-up: Curtain comes down on final pre-season Test in Bahrain

Get the low-down on Alex’s second week of testing in Sakhir

Published

20 FEB 2026

Est. reading time

2 min

Pre-season testing drew to a close in Sakhir this afternoon — and Alex can look back on a productive fortnight at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Our Thai racer participated in six sessions across five days during the last two weeks, amassing a grand total of 380 laps (2,056 kilometres) in Atlassian Williams F1 Team’s FW48.

One hundred and seventy-two of those laps came this week, as Albono covered just over 930km while getting familiar with his new vehicle.

Having registered a best lap time of 1:36.793 during Test 1, the 29-year-old will have been pleased to better that record at various points of this latest test.

Wednesday saw AA23 record a top time of 1:35.690 and a P11 placing, before registering a quickest lap of 1:34.555 during a full day of testing on Thursday.

That was enough for another P11 finish at the close of play after accumulating 117 laps and 633km of running.

Reflecting on Williams’ progress at the Middle Eastern venue following his final stint in Sakhir, Alex said:

“Day 2 is finished with, and it was an OK day. I would have wanted a bit more [but] I think we had a couple of issues early in the afternoon, so just had to delay our programme a little bit.

“I think we've made big steps forward every day, [though] maybe went a little bit backwards towards this afternoon.

“So we'll have a look at that, and understand what we need to change.”

The conclusion of testing brings the 2026 season into even sharper focus, as the clock ticks towards Round 1 in Melbourne.

Alex’s first outing of the campaign will take place at the Albert Park Circuit from Friday 6th - Sunday 8th March, with updates from the Australian GP on alexalbon.com and the AA23 app.