2025 Formula 1 pre-season testing commences on Wednesday with all 10 teams in action at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The three-day test, run from Wednesday, February 26 through Friday, February 28 will be the first significant miles that the teams will put into their 2025 challengers.
Each day will be split into morning and afternoon sessions with the former commencing at 10:00 local time and carrying on for four hours, before reconvening at 15:00 local time for four more hours of running.
Each team can only field one car at a time and thus split their drivers across the three-day test and its six sessions.
F1 2025 pre-season driver schedule
2024 Constructors’ title winners McLaren will begin testing with Oscar Piastri at the wheel of the MCL39, before Lando Norris heads out on track on Wednesday afternoon.
The team will commit to the same run plan on Thursday before switching things around for the final day of the test.
Lewis Hamilton will be first out for Ferrari on Wednesday morning before handing over driving duties to team-mate Charles Leclerc in the afternoon – the Scuderia’s running plan for the next two days is currently unknown.
Red Bull’s new boy Liam Lawson will be the first to drive the RB21 in anger on Wednesday and reigning champion Max Verstappen will take over in the afternoon.
Lawson will then have the entirety of Thursday’s running to tune into the RB21 before Verstappen concludes Red Bull’s test as the sole runner on Friday.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will get the ball rolling for Mercedes before George Russell pilots the W16 on Wednesday afternoon, with the order flipping on Thursday and then flipping back again on Friday.
At Aston Martin, the first two days are scheduled identically, with Fernando Alonso assuming morning driving duties and Lance Stroll will get his morning running in on Friday.
Alpine is running rookie Jack Doohan first on Wednesday and Friday, with Pierre Gasly taking the Anglo-French team’s morning session on Thursday.
At Haas, rookie Oliver Bearman will get morning driving duties on Wednesday and Friday, while taking afternoon running on the second day of the test.
Yuki Tsunoda will start proceedings for Racing Bulls on Wednesday and Thursday with rookie Isack Hadjar running in the afternoon sessions before the Faenza-based outfit swaps the duo over on Friday.
Williams will split driving duties on the first day of testing with Alex Albon out first, then Carlos Sainz will have a whole day of running on Thursday before his Anglo-Thai team-mate completes the team’s mileage on Friday.
Finally, Sauber will run Nico Hulkenberg for its morning sessions on Wednesday and Thursday with the order flipping on Friday, when rookie Gabriel Bortoelto will assume morning driving responsibilities.
| Team | Wednesday AM | Wednesday PM | Thursday AM | Thursday PM | Friday AM | Friday PM |
| McLaren | Oscar Piastri | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri | Lando Norris | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri |
| Ferrari | Lewis Hamilton | Charles Leclerc | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Red Bull | Liam Lawson | Max Verstappen | Liam Lawson | Liam Lawson | Max Verstappen | Max Verstappen |
| Mercedes | Kimi Antonelli | George Russell | George Russell | Kimi Antonelli | Kimi Antonelli | George Russell |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | Lance Stroll | Fernando Alonso | Lance Stroll | Lance Stroll | Fernando Alonso |
| Alpine | Jack Doohan | Pierre Gasly | Pierre Gasly | Jack Doohan | Jack Doohan | Pierre Gasly |
| Haas | Ollie Bearman | Esteban Ocon | Esteban Ocon | Ollie Bearman | Ollie Bearman | Esteban Ocon |
| Racing Bulls | Yuki Tsunoda | Isack Hadjar | Yuki Tsunoda | Isack Hadjar | Isack Hadjar | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Williams | Alex Albon | Carlos Sainz | Carlos Sainz | Carlos Sainz | Alex Albon | Alex Albon |
| Sauber | Nico Hulkenberg | Gabriel Bortoleto | Nico Hulkenberg | Gabriel Bortoleto | Gabriel Bortoleto | Nico Hulkenberg |
F1 pre-season testing tyre allocations
All 10 teams during pre-season testing can choose from a selection of tyres from each point of Pirelli’s extensive range, which in 2025 includes a new super soft C6 compound.
Two squads have elected to bring one set of the C6, Ferrari and Williams and what they will get out of the soft rubber on Bahrain’s typically abrasive surface remains to be seen.
Both teams have also brought along a set of the C5 compound Pirelli rubber.
A smattering of teams have stretched as far as the C4 compound as their softest choice with only Aston Martin and Alpine only going for the hardest three compounds in the Pirelli range (C1, C2 and C3).
The middle-of-the-range C3 compound is the most popular choice of Pirelli rubber with a total of 207 sets shared across the 10 teams.
Bahrain’s now consistent place as pre-season host is due to largely consistent sunny weather and as such only two teams have brought Intermediate tyres, Aston Martin (three sets) and Haas (one set) with the latter also bringing one set of wet tyres.
The full allocation per team can be reviewed via the image below.
Where can I watch pre-season testing?
Pre-season testing will be available on F1TV Pro in applicable regions for subscribers.
Beyond this, local broadcasters will be showing F1 testing throughout the three days of running.
In the UK, Sky Sports F1 will be televising every single session of the test, with programming commencing five minutes before each session (06:50 and 11:55 GMT on all three days).
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