2025 Formula 1 pre-season testing is two-thirds through and Carlos Sainz was an intriguing name to top the timesheets on the second day for Williams as McLaren turned heads.
While one day of testing remains, Sainz’s pre-season prep is all but finished, with the Spaniard allotted all eight hours of running for Williams on Thursday. Sainz used those hours, which were interrupted by rain in the morning session, to clock 127 laps, with one of them being the fastest of the day, set on the C3 compound of Pirelli rubber. All but one driver set their best effort on the C3, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar being the outlier, but Sainz’s 1:29.348 bettered the rest of the field 0.031s.
“Although timesheets are not fully representative in Pre-season Testing, we made some progress relative to yesterday, improving the balance and overall feeling of the car,” said Sainz. “However, it doesn’t feel like enough testing to be honest. Next thing for me is Australia and I wish I had more time to better understand the car and how it reacts to different set up changes. Having said that, I feel as ready as I can be and I can’t wait to push flat out already in race one!”
While its more than likely a low fuel load contributed massively to Sainz’s top time, it suggests that Williams could have a handy card to play in qualifying this season.
A positive day for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton
Best of the rest was Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who continues to enjoy life for the Scuderia. The seven-time champion was quickest of the 10 morning runners on Thursday by a margin of 0.399s. Positive vibes continue to exude from Hamilton, who is going from moment to moment with a smile while draped in his unmistakeable red race suit.
“It’s been another positive day for us in Bahrain,” Hamilton said. “We’re making strong progress in understanding the SF-25 and learning how to get the most out of it, and the reliability is good so far which is a really positive sign. We didn’t get to do as much running as we hoped because of the weather, but we have more time on track tomorrow to work through our programme and to build even more comfort in the car. I’m really enjoying working with the team and we’re all looking forward to the final push tomorrow”
He eeked out team-mate Charles Leclerc who admitted in Thursday’s press conference that he enjoyed being out of the limelight as attention was solely focussed on Hamilton’s arrival in Maranello across the last month or so.
“The off-season was a bit more in the shadow but I enjoyed it. I focused on myself, I’m pushing at the maximum to be ready for the first race and I’m really looking forward to this year. I’m hoping that we’ll start the year in a more positive way compared to last year.”
Third on Day 2 of F1 testing is a positive enough sign Ferrari is in good shape, but Leclerc admitted the inclement weather in Bahrain made things hard to read.
“It was more tricky today on track because of what are unusual weather conditions for Bahrain, with cooler temperatures and even some rain,” he said. “We ran through our planned programme, but with the conditions changing quickly, it was difficult to draw many conclusions. Tonight we are fully focused on analysing our data and preparing for the last day of testing tomorrow.”
McLaren and Lando Norris execute dramatic long run pace
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finishing 13th and 14th respectively for McLaren on Thursday ordinarily wouldn’t be something to write home about, but the reality was quite different. Team papaya turned plenty of heads on Thursday, looking set to pick up where 2024’s MCL38 left off and perhaps more so, as the MCL39 looked ominously good around the Bahrain circuit.
That is, despite the fact Norris had some issues after his initial running on Wednesday, telling select media including Motorsport Week before his Thursday run that “we’ve struggled a bit more with the rear than what we would have liked over yesterday and today.”
But stacked up against Ferrari’s Leclerc and Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli on long runs on Thursday afternoon, Norris was the clear winner.
“Norris did a 20-lap first stint, 18-lap second stint and 20-lap third stint and he’s boxed so he’s done a full race distance. He was down into the 1:32s for a lot of that final stint,” said Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok. “Leclerc did a similar first two stints and is in the 1:33s and now the 1:34s compared to Norris in the 1:32s on a similar stint length. Antonelli is in the high 1:33s on his last stint. Norris is the outlier. It’s extraordinarily fast on his final stint.”
Moreover, Norris had a one-lap pursuit late on that was set to be one of the fastest of the day before darting into the pits before the end of the run. McLaren looks impressive, but Team Principal Andrea Stella wants to downplay the outfit’s efforts.
“We are testing long runs in conditions which are pretty unique,” Stella told select media including Motorsport Week. “It’s cold tarmac, cold air temperature, Bahrain is unique itself in terms of the [surface] roughness, so I think it’s overall good information, obviously, when you go through long runs and race simulations, but every information we get needs to be taken with some care, we need to be careful, because for all the reasons I just said, it’s very particular. When we go to the early races of the seasons, the kind of stress on the tyres, the requirement in terms of interaction between the car and the tyres will be completely different.”
Different maybe, but McLaren shared the same conditions as everyone else in Bahrain on Thursday and seemingly came out on top. How much of that is a true indicator for the season ahead is something only time will tell.
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz leads Ferrari duo on second day of 2025 F1 pre-season testing
