Lance Stroll brought out the first red flag of Formula 1's final pre-season test in Bahrain as his Aston Martin ended up in the gravel trap one hour into Wednesday's second session.

The AMR26 snapped to the left as Stroll approached the Turn 11 left-hander, with the car spat out into the gravel as a result.

Replays appeared to suggest that the car lost drive as Stroll went to downshift for the corner under braking.

The car was removed via a recovery crane while the session was neutralised, with the red flag lasting for seven minutes.

It continued a difficult pre-season for Aston Martin, which completed the fewest laps of any team at last week's first Bahrain test.

Stroll was on only his seventh lap of the session - after team-mate Fernando Alonso managed 28 in the morning - when he spun off.

Charles Leclerc's 1m33.739s time from the first session remained the fastest time of the day at the time of the red flag.

Oscar Piastri was the fastest of the drivers to have taken over for the seconds session in fourth, 1.821s off Leclerc's time, while Liam Lawson, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had all completed a joint-best 15 laps after the lunch break.

Isack Hadjar, the only driver taking part in both sessions on Wednesday, returned to the track for Red Bull after he was limited to just 13 laps in the first session.

The Cadillac was the only car that had not returned to the track at the time of the Stroll red flag. Valtteri Bottas was due to take the car over from Sergio Perez, who completed 24 laps in the first session.