Kimi Antonelli topped the timing sheets in the first official session of 2025. The Mercedes driver led the way in Bahrain, although fine margins separated the best times throughout the field.
Although no conclusions can be drawn yet, there were some noteworthy developments from the morning session in Sakhir.
Antonelli fastest, no major issues across the field
Over the last few seasons, F1 has seen reliability levels continue to rise. This attributed to the relatively low number of Safety Cars in 2024, with engine failures becoming an increasingly rare phenomenon.
As the lights went green for testing in Bahrain, reliability was not a major concern for any of the teams. Four hours later, with the entire field completing over 46 laps, this assumption was largely validated.
The only team whose track time was somewhat limited was Aston Martin, who spend over 90 minutes away from the track as they mate some significant set-up changes.
Red Bull’s Liam Lawson finished second in the morning session, just over a tenth behind Antonelli in the W16.
The Kiwi suffered the only significant incident of Bahrain Testing so far, spinning out in the first sector and flat-spotting his tyres.
Still, Lawson managed to avoid getting stuck in the barriers and competed the rest of his programme without issues.
Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda were third and fourth respectively, both within two tenths of Antonelli’s fastest team.
Williams and VCARB lost out in last year’s midfield battle, with the likes of Haas and Alpine out-developing them in the final stages.
However, they are likely to have slightly different approaches to this year.
Whilst Williams are unapologetically focusing on the 2026 regulations, VCARB are likely to expend slightly more resources on this year’s package.
Although Albon set a strong time to go third, the FW47 appears to have modest changes compared to its predecessor.
Regardless, both teams can be satisfied with their first day of running, with their experienced drivers setting a good foundation for the new arrivals (Sainz and Hadjar) to take over in the afternoon.
No surprises for Ferrari or McLaren
In fifth was Lewis Hamilton, who completed 70 laps in the SF-25. Every kilometre of running is invaluable for the British driver, who has admitted there is still work to do before he is fully comfortable and able to extract the maximum.
A clean test session is precisely what the doctor ordered, though nothing definitive can be concluded about Ferrari’s pace.
Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman, both entering their rookie campaigns, both put together some productive sessions.
For Bearman, the morning consisted almost exclusively of long runs. Much like last year, Haas are putting an emphasis on high-fuel running.
They are unlikely to be drastic with this prioritisation as they were in 2024 testing. After all, they were successful in eliminating their tyre degradation problems.
Oscar Piastri had a quiet but productive session, going through the motions in the MCL39.
The papaya car looked compliant during the onboards of Piastri that were shown. However, the afternoon session should provide clearer indications of how these cars perform – as teams begin to intensify their run plans.
