The start of preseason testing in Bahrain on Wednesday was a major landmark in the lead-up to the new Formula One season, giving all 10 teams a first opportunity to complete extended running with their new cars. With the season opener in Australia just weeks away, every lap at Bahrain International Circuit across all three days is precious.
All eyes were on Lewis Hamilton during the first session as he embarked on the next step following his big move to Ferrari. He completed 70 laps and finished the morning fifth, 0.406 seconds off the session’s pace-setter (and his successor at Mercedes), Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
A circuit-wide power outage suspended the second session with two hours left in the day, creating an unusual and frustrating setback. Once the power returned, teams were given an extra hour of running to make up for the lost time, with Norris ending the day fastest for McLaren, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Wednesday’s first glimpse of the 2025 F1 field in collective test action comes with the usual caveat that it can be hard to decipher testing times, as it is a preseason game of smoke and mirrors while teams run their own programs.
The Athletic’s experts Luke Smith (from Bahrain) and Madeline Coleman analyze the day.
No hiccups in Hamilton’s first long runs in red
The sight of Hamilton decked in red and his famous number 44 on the Ferrari may still require some getting used to, but it was a smooth session for the seven-time world champion. Although he got the chance to do a short shakedown in the 2025 car at Fiorano last week, Wednesday’s tally of 70 laps — more than a full race distance in Bahrain — was the best chance yet to assimilate with the new car. Teammate Charles Leclerc took over the reins for the second session of the day.
Right now, Hamilton’s goal is to adjust to his new surroundings and change his car philosophy after 12 seasons at Mercedes and an entire F1 career using Mercedes engines. He’s already made some adjustments, such as swapping some of the button positions on the steering wheel — something spotted by Haas driver Ollie Bearman, who has spent a lot of time in the Ferrari simulator and is a self-anointed “nerd” on the topic.
This will have been a valuable chance for Hamilton to find out what is — and, maybe more importantly, what is not — working for him.
Watching the end of the first session of the day trackside at the fast, left-hand Turn 11, Hamilton appeared to struggle with the rear of his car at points when getting the power down and exiting the corner. There was a brief moment earlier when he ran wide and kicked up a bit of gravel. But he has always been a driver eager to push the limits of his car to find out what it can do.
“It’s too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good, and as a team, we’re working on the best way to optimize each run,” Hamilton said. “There’s more to do over the next few days to get through our program and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now, I’m looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow (Thursday).”
Overall, it was a smooth start for Hamilton and Ferrari with the 2025 car. Now, the goal will be to unlock more performance over the final two days of testing. — Luke Smith
McLaren’s car looked strong while watching trackside
I got out a couple of times to see how the cars were performing from the side of the track, and one of the stand-out performers was the McLaren. Last year’s constructors’ championship winner tried to be “innovative” with its new car, per team principal Andrea Stella, and the MCL39 looked pretty stable from the very start of the day.
Watching at Turn 11 in the morning, Oscar Piastri could carry a lot of speed through the corner without compromising the exit — a good, early sign of a stable car. Lando Norris’s topping the timesheets in the second session of the day will only have further boosted McLaren’s optimism over a solid first day.
There has been a quiet confidence about McLaren through the launch season. Although it has always been tempered with the promise of a wildly competitive battle at the front, there’s also a knowledge that its approach last year landed it the constructors’ title.
First impressions can be deceiving, particularly in winter testing, but McLaren will like what it has seen thus far. — Luke Smith
Red Bull’s new car is ‘subtly different’ — will that be enough?
Getting all 10 teams on the track with their cars for the first time also offered a clear look at each new design, away from some of the more carefully arranged photos issued by teams after a shakedown.
Red Bull entered the new season eager to remedy the issues that emerged with its car last year, causing it to slump to third in the constructors’ standings and leading to a 10-race winless streak for Verstappen (a lifetime by his standards). The target was to give the RB21 a wider operating window of strong performance instead of the more ‘peaky’ nature of last year’s car, which resulted in some very difficult weekends.
The Red Bull design looks relatively unchanged on the outside (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
While all teams are focusing on evolution rather than revolution with their cars, given the looming, significant rule change for 2026, the new Red Bull is very similar to the old one. But team boss Christian Horner explained that every surface on the car is new and that the similarities are due to the design philosophy of the car remaining the same — after all, it still won nine races last year.
“Whilst it doesn’t look a huge amount visibly different to last year’s car, it’s subtly different in many different areas, and particularly the areas that you can’t see,” Horner said. He added there would only be “subtle changes” to the car between now and the opening race in Melbourne.
Verstappen got his first extended run in the car in the second session and ended the day third quickest. New teammate Liam Lawson had a brief spin in the morning at Turn 2, though Horner brushed this off due to the windy conditions. “Liam’s had a good first official session for us and settled in well so far,” he said. — Luke Smith
‘Lights out’ was taken a little too literally…
When the power went out in the media center, causing TVs to switch off and the room to go completely dark, I initially laughed it off and saw it as an opportunity to get some fresh air.
Except it turned out many team members had the same idea, given they, too, had lost power in their garages and hospitality units as part of a track-wide power outage that forced the second session of the day to be red-flagged.
Many teams quickly fired up backup generators for their garages and armed their mechanics with flashlights. (Mercedes’ generator still had Hamilton’s 44 on the side.) It took over an hour for the session to finally resume after power gradually returned around the track.
According to the Bahrain International Circuit, the power outage was “caused by an external substation failure.” The session was extended by one hour to 8 p.m. local time to make up for lost time. The teams will have welcomed the additional running. — Luke Smith
How are the rookies adapting?
F1 has six drivers embarking on their first full season in the pinnacle of motorsport. They all participated in testing on Wednesday, split between the first and second sessions. As mentioned, Antonelli clocked the fastest time in the first session and finished day one of preseason testing as the quickest among the rookies.
“I think rookies now are really well prepared, (they get) lots of practice,” Russell said. “Driving is sort of the easiest part of our job, compared with all of the marketing and everything that goes with it, which I think as a rookie is probably the biggest change when you get to Formula One.”
Lawson (who has 11 grands prix under his belt), Oliver Bearman (who scored points and raced in three grands prix) and Jack Doohan (who raced in Abu Dhabi) also participated in the first session of the day. Bearman said, “My feeling within the car is good. I feel confident to lean on the car. And I think step one is having a car that gives you confidence and you are happy to drive. And so far, that’s been the case.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the first session (Sipa USA)
Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the rookie lineup during the afternoon session. Preseason testing is more than just a critical time for the teams to understand their respective cars better. It allows rookies — and any driver — time to adapt to the new car. Many people often wonder what the performance markers and expectations are for rookies, particularly ones like Hadjar who has not competed in an F1 grand prix.
“The speed is certainly not the issue with him,” Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies said about Hadjar. “And I think a good year for him means minimizing mistakes in the first part of the season and, soon enough, of course, challenging Yuki (Tsunoda), pushing Yuki, and getting these two guys to push the team forward.”
Here is how the new drivers finished day one of preseason testing. Remember that each team has different fuel loads and is running different programs.
- Antonelli: P7
- Lawson: P8
- Hadjar: P11
- Bortoleto: P12
- Doohan: P14
- Bearman: P20
— Madeline Coleman
Who is at the top of the pecking order?
F1 is in the final year of this set of regulations, and we’ve seen the field converge. When the checkered flag fell in Abu Dhabi last December, the grid was quite tight, and the margins are expected to be razor-thin again this year. Esteban Ocon said, “Hopefully, the field is spread within three-tenths, like we’ve seen in Abu Dhabi last year.”
It makes it much harder to decipher day one of preseason testing, even without the power outage.
“I think it’s going to be remarkably close, the entire field. I mean, if you look at Abu Dhabi and the lap time that separated all 10 teams, I think it’s, just as Christian (Horner) said, it’s going to just continue to converge,” Brown said. “I don’t think there’s a clear favorite.
“I would expect at least four teams to win races, eight drivers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone else getting in on the mix, if not on a regular basis, certainly on a race-by-race basis.”
Horner noted how the cars look fairly similar, adding that “it’s going to be very, very competitive throughout the season, from the first race all the way through the season.” The Red Bull team principal did point out that Ferrari’s car design jumps out as being “a differentiator” with its approach.
Some circuits likely will still suit some teams more than others, but multiple winners are expected, as Brown noted. It’s also worth remembering during this stretch that, aside from 2021 and 2024, the fastest team during preseason testing in three of the past five years has gone on to win the constructors’ title.
When asked about his predictions, Pierre Gasly said he hoped “the midfield can challenge the top teams more consistently” but also said, “I think it will be cool for the sport to have a third team joining the fight for the championship, which I think is possible.”
The other question mark is the upcoming flexi-wing change, as this is viewed as helpful with the car’s aerodynamics. It can reduce drag (which boosts top speed on the straights) while still keeping downforce into the corner, given how the wing moves. The rear wing tests will happen in Australia, while the front wing tests will be during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, which is race nine out of 24.
The question is how much impact that latter test will have on development and the title fight. “It’s too hard to tell who wins or loses over it,” said Brown, who felt it won’t “be a material change for anybody.” Meanwhile, Horner said it would be “impossible to predict” who would gain from it.
“It’ll be interesting, the effect that it has,” Horner said. “I guess the slight oddball about it is the timing of it. Why race nine? It might have been better to be addressed during the offseason because you end up doing sort of two specs of wings.” — Madeline Coleman
Top photo of Lewis Hamilton: Sipa USA
