The 2025 Formula 1 pre-season testing schedule at the Bahrain International Circuit has concluded, but has a pecking order started to emerge?
With teams focusing purely on their own programmes and items like fuel loads and engine modes unknown, it’s hard to gauge where everyone’s outright pace lies.
It won’t be until qualifying and race day at the Australian Grand Prix that the world will truly find out the winners and losers of the F1 off-season and even then, the Albert Park, Melbourne circuit is unique and it may take several races for the true pecking order to clear up.
But what did the 10 teams get out of testing and what can we glean from their efforts?
McLaren looking strong
Lando Norris’ race simulation on Day 2 of the Bahrain test was a warning shot to the reigning Constructors’ Champion’s rivals. McLaren’s pace on the C2 tyre towards the end of Norris’ simulation was two seconds beyond what Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc could achieve on the C1.
Team Principal Andrea Stella had to downplay the team’s efforts on Thursday evening but F1.com reports that McLaren has the strongest race and qualifying pace of the entire field.
If a pecking order has been set, McLaren could be at the top of it.
The main challengers
Ferrari looks poised to be one of McLaren’s closest challengers along with Mercedes and Red Bull and both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were overly positive throughout the three-day test. There was a small hiccup for Hamilton on the final day of testing due to a technical anomaly blighting his running.
Still, the seven-time champion was pleased with his and the team’s three-day effort. “Overall it’s been a great few days and we’ve made some strong progress as a team,” Hamilton said. “We had to finish a little earlier than planned today, and the weather has been hard to predict all week, but that’s how testing works sometimes and we’ve managed to gather a lot of good information to build on before the season starts.”
Top-10 F1 2025 Testing Times
| # | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:29.348 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:29.379 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:29.431 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:29.545 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:29.566 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:29.650 |
| 7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:29.784 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:29.940 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:30.040 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:30.229 |
While Max Verstappen said his Red Bull “can’t be worse than last year,” his final day of running was far from plain sailing. Despite having all eight hours of the final test day at his disposal, the Dutchman racked up just 81 laps, 10 less than Mercedes’ George Russell who had four hours less running on Friday.
In fact, Red Bull clocked the least amount of laps of any team, 304 and flow-vis paint on his RB21 coupled with a Friday evening spin shows perhaps all isn’t quite right with Verstappen’s 2025 machine.
“I think we had a decent day today; there were a few little problems but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do,” Verstappen said, before adding “I don’t expect us to be the fastest at all.”
Mercedes completes F1’s big four and is definitely in the mix, clocking the most laps during the three days of testing (458). George Russell rounded out the action by setting the fastest time of Day 3, a 1:29.545, but he still eyes McLaren as the team to beat.
“It is no surprise to see some of our competitors, particularly McLaren, looking strong,” he said. “We’ve compiled significant data and knowledge which gives the opportunity to find further improvements.”
Williams joins three-pronged midfield fight
The fastest time of the test was set by none other than Williams’ Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard’s 1:29.348s effort on the cool Thursday running couldn’t be beat and was backed up by Alex Albon finishing third fastest on Friday.
McLaren’s Team Principal Stella predicts Williams could be a team to look out for during qualifying in Melbourne and the team racking up top three times on the final two days of testing shouldn’t be underestimated. However, Sainz, who has been vocally against the limited testing offered in F1 said he has room to grow.
“I feel like when I push it, I can get to a decent level, but I still don’t know where the last two tenths of the car are,” he said.
His team-mate Alex Albon admits learning needs to be done, but is confident that Williams can find something extra in time for Australia.
“I do think we need to look at some data with a couple of areas we need to focus on,” he said. “The good thing is, we know where the lap time is and I don’t think it’s that hard to achieve, so we’ll do some work around that and get ready for Melbourne!”
Williams’ pace has thrust it into what is perceived to be a three-way fight at the front of F1’s midfield with Alpine and Haas, the latter of which rarely starred in terms of times, focusing instead on long run pace.
Several teams expect Haas to unlock something when F1 arrives in Melbourne but Team Principal Ayao Komatsu doesn’t see much point wasting time worrying where his outfit lies in the pecking order just yet, saying “Even if I know I’m P5 or P8, what am I going to do until Australia?”
F1 Testing Lap Count
| # | Team | Laps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 458 |
| 2 | Haas | 457 |
| 3 | Racing Bulls | 454 |
| 4 | Alpine | 405 |
| 5 | Williams | 395 |
| 6 | Ferrari | 382 |
| 7 | McLaren | 381 |
| 8 | Sauber | 354 |
| 9 | Aston Martin | 306 |
| 10 | Red Bull | 304 |
How the rest fared
Aston Martin had a fragmented test, completing the second-least amount of laps in its bid to recover from the painful lessons of 2024. Aston Martin slipped from fifth fastest to the dep clutches of the rest of the midfield and it looks set to pick up from where it left off in 2025. Fernando Alonso admitted “It’s difficult to believe that things will change so much compared to Abu Dhabi.”
Racing Bulls also has a task to fulfil in returning to the front of the midfield, a place it let slip through its grasp as development issues hindered the Faenza-based squad in 2024. Speaking in Friday’s press conference, Yuki Tsunoda said “I think we obviously don’t have a complete performance, as much as I had first half of the season last year.”
Meanwhile, while Sauber is unlikely to suffer as much as it did in 2024, it has yet to provide significant evidence that it can do more than prop up the rest of the F1 field as this year’s campaign gets underway.
READ MORE – Gallery: F1 2025 pre-season testing concludes in Bahrain
