Written by Meghana Sree, Edited by Dhara Dave
It may be early days, but across six sessions of Formula One’s pre-season testing, there has been sufficient data for us to dig into and get some sense of the 2025 frontrunners.
From Wednesday to Friday, familiar pictures of slime green flow-vis and sizable aero rakes were seen; while teams were hard at work to calibrate and understand their machinery, several key talking points emerged.
Here’s everything we’ve learned in Bahrain about what we can expect in two week’s time, heading to Australia.
Debatable pecking order
Pre-season testing normally helps discern some semblance of a pecking order before the season opener, yet this year, the competitive ladder is considerably harder to lock in.
McLaren are confidently continuing on their linear path of progression, picking up where they left off in Abu Dhabi save for a couple of wrinkles to iron out, particularly the rear’s instability.
Meanwhile, it will be a long season and Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes are not to be discounted for the 2025 favourites. All four teams look incredibly close in terms of performance. Despite this, the general consensus in the paddock is that McLaren does have the edge for now.
In terms of structure, Ferrari has the most noticeable design shifts. On the other hand, Red Bull’s 2025 car is very similar to their 2024 machine, though hiding some key developments underneath their signature coat of navy blue.
Reliability takes a big step forward
With little to no crashes, mechanical faults, or engine busts, it’s clear that teams have had ample time to settle into the new regulations and find the sweet spot.
That being said, Haas did have a moment on day three of testing, with the engine cover flapping off. This, according to Ollie Bearman, is a problem the team has had before and are working to fix.
Otherwise, trouble-free runs were executed across the field with only a handful of spins that were bound to happen owing to Bahrain’s gusty winds this time of the year.
Impressively, the rookies too were up to speed, adjusting well to their new outfits and ahead of the learning curve. Of the six rookies, Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar understandably have the most to catch up on.
The others in this cohort have already had extensive training with their teams, or have prior Grand Prix experience under their belts.
Overall, driver-to-team reliability was smooth sailing on all three days.
The only mishaps were external — everything from extended power cuts to a bus careening on the track were just a few incidents that brought out the red flags.
Curveballs expected
One thing that can be predicted with certainty is the midfield’s efforts in closing the gap to the top four paying off. Alpine and Williams are shaping up to be strong contenders for the best of the rest, a total turn-around for the former team whose 2024 season beginning was woeful.
Williams seem to have improved the most, and in the capable hands of the new recruit Carlos Sainz, pumped out the fastest lap time overall on day two with the C3 compound.
While these benchmark times should be taken with a pinch of salt, they do provide an estimate of each team’s performance to be expected later on in the season.
While the midfield thus far is crowned by Williams and Alpine, the Grove-based team remains tight-lipped about their expectations. Alex Albon shared: “We still have a few things to work on, but our base car feels pretty sensible.”
Furthermore, Zak Brown and Christian Horner have noted that apart from the top eight drivers likely to win multiple races, similar to 2024, we could also expect several dark horses to clinch podium finishes, or even win races.
Troubles further down the grid
While the limelight is on the top four teams, a few teams have more to work on if they want to challenge the points-scorers.
Kick Sauber, Aston Martin and Racing Bulls showed inconsistent performance across testing, a sign that these teams have not improved much from Abu Dhabi last year.
A sceptical Fernando Alonso shared: “We do have some positives with the new car compared to 2024, but there are still some things that we need to work on and improve as we prepare for Australia.”
Echoing Alonso’s thoughts, Aston Martin team principal, Andy Cowell stated: “We have also discovered areas that could be better and need more focus.”
Technical directives chatter
Apart from the pecking order, another frequently brought-up topic across testing was the flexi-wing clampdown set for round nine in Spain.
After stating that no action would be taken on flexible front wings following data checks last season, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ) doubled back on their decision, announcing that stringent flexibility tests on rear wings will be carried out in Barcelona.
This means that teams would essentially have to be prepared with two configurations of front wings, with Spain being the point of switch to the structure that complies with the new directives.
Ferrari and Red Bull pushed the crackdown on flexi-wings last season, apprehensive that McLaren and Mercedes were being advantaged.
Over testing week, Fred Vasseur and Horner expressed positive opinions on the issue being addressed, with Vasseur stating: “I think it’s good to have clarity.”
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Brown remained cool and said: “I don't think it’s a significant change for us. [...] I’m not expecting there to be a winner and loser, or some change in the pecking order [after Spain] because of that change.”
Yet another technical controversy that could shape 2025 is the mini-DRS design, with renewed accusations being fired across the field. In a conversation with The Race, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache said: “I think Ferrari and McLaren are doing the mini-DRS stuff still.”
Heading to Melbourne, this will be one of the key areas of controversy between teams.
What are some interesting developments you picked up on from testing? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments