Formula 1 Pre-Season Testing Day 1 Recap

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McLaren's Lando Norris took the top spot on Day 1 of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, finishing fastest overall on Wednesday, with a lap time of 1:30.430. After a power outage stopped running for over an hour, the session was extended until 20:00 local time.

Norris took the afternoon session run and set the fastest lap in a British 1-2, with George Russell just 0.157 seconds behind him.

It would be a long day of testing action with a four-hour session in both the morning and afternoon, giving drivers and teams a chance to see their 2025 cars on track for the first time. 

The track conditions were slightly in favour of the afternoon session drivers, as it had cooled down and was slightly faster, with the track continuing to ramp up throughout the morning session.

Differences in lap performance could also appear between teams and drivers depending on what tyre compound was being used and their fuel loads. Drivers running lower fuel loads were faster than when the car was under heavy fuel load due to the extra weight that it brings.

In the morning session, the first 10 drivers out of the 20 got some vital lap time and simulation data recorded to aid their engineers, who would be seeing where time was being won and lost. In addition, tyre wear was also assessed by the strategy departments for each team.

For some of the new blood that graduated into Formula 1, it was mostly a positive day, as the young drivers made the step up to the world championship after their impressive feeder series careers - Antonelli was the highest-placed finisher out of the rookies.​

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McLaren

Oscar Piastri was first out onto the track for the morning session, completing 66 laps (220 miles) with a best lap time of 1m32.084s.

Lando Norris climbed into the car during the afternoon session and completed 52 laps (171 miles) with a best lap time of 1m30.430s and topped the timesheet by 0.157s. Lando completed significantly fewer laps than Oscar due to set-up changes and long periods in the garage, along with the red flag - due to the power outage.

Lando's last lap of the day was with the whole car covered down one side with flow-vis to give the team some insights into the aerodynamics at work - with a human wall being created as he arrived back into the pit lane.

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton's first day of testing for his new team, Ferrari, saw him finish 14th overall despite finishing in a positive fifth place in the morning session. It was the first day that Hamilton would be on track in a Formula 1 event, driving for the Scuderia Ferrari outfit.

Lewis ran the C2 tyre on his first few laps with the addition of aero rakes to take measurements before running the C3 tyre with a different aero configuration and fuel loads. He completed 70 laps (379km) with a fastest lap time of 1:31.834s.

Charles Leclerc was in the car for the afternoon session, starting with the C2 tyres and switching to the C3. He ran with various fuel loads, gathering data, and finished the day with some practice starts. He completed 71 laps (384km) with a fastest lap time of 1:30.878s.​

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Mercedes

Mercedes' new boy, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, was the driver at the top of the pile in the morning session and the fastest driver out of the first 10 to participate. He completed 78 laps and finished the day off in tenth place.

George Russell took to the track for the afternoon session, completing 70 laps and finishing 0.157s off Norris in the top spot.

Red Bull

Liam Lawson was the first to take to the track in the RB21; the Kiwi completed 58 laps, pushing the RB21 to the test with a few slides exploring the car limits. 

Max Verstappen was in the RB21 for the afternoon session, completing 74 laps, testing C3 medium tyres, flo-vis across the floor, and having the fastest lap time of 1:30.674s.

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Williams and Aston Martin

For Williams, Alex Albon took to the track for the morning session, completing 63 laps with the fastest lap time of 1:31.573, with Williams's new boy, Carlos Sainz, taking the afternoon stint. Carlos completed 68 laps with a best time of 1:30.955s.

At Aston Martin, Fernando was the first out on track, banking 46 laps over 250km, with a fastest time of 1:31.874. Lance Stroll took the afternoon session with the fastest time of 1:31.949s, covering 42 laps. The team will test the C1, C2 and C3 and intermediate tyres over pre-season testing.

Alpine and RB

Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan shared driver duties during day one, with Jack taking the morning session and completing 68 laps with the fastest time being 1:31.841s. Gasly was in the car for the afternoon session and completed 72 laps with a fastest time of 1:31.353s.

Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar took the VCARB02 out for some laps during the morning and afternoon sessions. Yuki completed 78 laps, and Isack completed 76 laps at Bahrain International Circuit.

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Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber and Haas

Ollie Bearman was the first out on track for the Haas team, conducting a series of baseline runs on the C3 tyre before moving onto the C2 compound - he completed 72 laps of the circuit. Esteban Ocon was on track during the afternoon session with his new team and ran laps on the C2 and C3 tyre compound. He completed 88 laps - the day's highest individual driver lap count.

Sauber completed over 110 laps, with Nico Hulkenberg taking to the track in the morning, completing 55 laps (297km) with a fastest lap time of 1:32.169s. F2 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto was in the car for the afternoon session and completed 59 laps with a fastest lap time of 1:31.690s.

Full Day 1 Results

1) Lando Norris          1:30.430
2) George Russell      +0.157
3) Max Verstappen     +0.244
4) Charles Leclerc      +0.448
5) Carlos Sainz           +0.525
6) Pierre Gasly            +0.923
7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli +0.998
8) Liam Lawson           +1.13
9) Alex Albon               +1.143
10) Yuki Tsunoda         +1.18
11) Isack Hadjar          +1.201
12) Gabriel Bortoleto  +1.26
13) Lewis Hamilton     +1.404
14) Jack Doohan        +1.411
15) Fernando Alonso. +1.444
16) Lance Stroll          +1.519
17) Oscar Piastri        +1.654
18) Nico Hulkenberg +1.739
19) Esteban Ocon     +3.170
​20) Oliver Bearman   +5.092