George Russell posted the quickest time of the week on the final morning of this week’s Formula 1 test in Bahrain.

Mercedes was playing catch-up after a difficult first two days in which it hit trouble, but Russell enjoyed a trouble-free morning on his way to the fastest time, a 1:33.918sec.

The Briton was one of the busiest drivers on track, with 78 laps covered before he hands over the car to team-mate Kimi Antonelli for the afternoon.

Ferrari and Red Bull also had solid mornings of running as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen finished second and third behind Russell.

Haas‘ Olivier Bearman and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri rounded out the top five, albeit over two seconds slower than Russell’s benchmark.

Lance Stroll returned to the cockpit of the Aston Martin for his second full day in the car after Fernando Alonso drove it on Thursday.

The team finished with the second-lowest lap count of the morning, only ahead of Cadillac, and Stroll was 4.5 seconds off the pace.

Cadillac triggered the first red flag of the day once more after Valtteri Bottas suffered a technical problem and stopped on track after only 16 laps.

The car was recovered, and the Finn eventually made his way onto the track with an hour left after the issue was rectified.

Bottas was slowest of all, but just three tenths behind Stroll.

Bahrain F1 test: Day 3 morning times