As it happened: 2025 F1 pre-season testing day one: Bahrain

This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.

The chequered flag has fallen on the first day of practice with Norris quickest for McLaren. Here’s our run-down of the times.

Norris heads into the pits with one minute left, a thick coating of flow-vis on his McLaren. He pulls up into the first garage position which is McLaren’s by dint of their constrictors’ championship victory last year. Mechanics crowd around it to prevent photographers getting a clear shot of what the liquid patterns reveals about the airflow over their car.

Russell splits Norris from Verstappen with a 1’30.587 in his Mercedes, then heads to the pits.

Verstappen goes up to second place in his Red Bull, just under a quarter of a second off Norris. With Leclerc third and Russell fourth this looks rather like the closing stages of last year.

There’s one hour left to go in the test again. The brief rain which hit earlier has passed and the track is busy.

With one-and-a-quarter hours of the extended session remaining, light rain is now falling on the desert track

Norris lowers the best time to a 1’30.430, putting him almost half a second ahead of Leclerc.

The FIA has confirmed it, FOM and the teams have agreed to extend this session by one hour due to the earlier delay caused by a power cut. The session will finish at 8pm local time.

Good news – just over an hour after the session was suspended, Gasly leads the drivers back out for the final 50 minutes. Verstappen, with a splash of flow-vis on his Red Bull, immediately puts a move on Gabriel Bortoleto at turn four.

There’s an hour of the session left but most of the last hour has been spent under red flag. Here’s the times as it stands:
1. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari SF-25: 1’30.878
2. George Russell – Mercedes W16: 1’31.082 (+0.204)
3. Lando Norris – McLaren MCL39: 1’31.251 (+0.373)
4. Pierre Gasly – Alpine A525: 1’31.353 (+0.475)
5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes W16: 1’31.428 (+0.550)
6. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB21: 1’31.444 (+0.566)
7. Liam Lawson – Red Bull RB21: 1’31.560 (+0.682)
8. Alexander Albon – Williams FW47: 1’31.573 (+0.695)
9. Yuki Tsunoda – Racing Bulls 02: 1’31.610 (+0.732)
10. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Williams FW47: 1’31.821 (+0.943)
11. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari SF-25: 1’31.834 (+0.956)
12. Jack Doohan – Alpine A525: 1’31.841 (+0.963)
13. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’31.874 (+0.996)
14. Oscar Piastri – McLaren MCL39: 1’32.084 (+1.206)
15. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber C45: 1’32.169 (+1.291)
16. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’32.332 (+1.454)
17. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls 02: 1’32.389 (+1.511)
18. Esteban Ocon – Haas VF-25: 1’34.323 (+3.445)
19. Oliver Bearman – Haas VF-25: 1’35.522 (+4.644)

The FIA says it expects to be able to restart the session shortly. Power is continuing to return around the circuit.

They’ve now lost over half an hour of running due to the power outage. More of the floodlights are coming on around the circuit.

Power is now being restored around the circuit.

The session is still under red flag. More on the situation at the circuit here.

The FIA confirms the red flag is due to the power failure. No word yet on when or whether the session will resume.

There’s been a power cut at the circuit. The session has been red-flagged and power appears to have gone down in the Red Bull garage.

Almost two hours since the afternoon session began, Norris is finally out in the McLaren.

But we’ve immediately got another improvement at the top of the times – Charles Leclerc sets a 1’30.878 in the Ferrari.

We had one Mercedes on top in the morning and now George Russell has put the car on top again with a 1’31.082 on the medium rubber.

Verstappen runs wide onto the kerb at turn 11, which may not have done his floor much good.

One-a-and-a-half hours into the afternoon running and still no lap times from Lando Norris in the McLaren or Gabriel Bortoleto in the Sauber.

The FIA radar now says rain is expected in the next 20 minutes. There is also some forecast for the final day of testing. Very few teams have brought intermediate tyres, however, as they are seldom needed at this desert track.

After the first hour of the afternoon session it’s still Antonelli on top from earlier, but Pierre Gasly got very close to his time in the Alpine. Here’s the updated times so far:
1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes W16: 1’31.428
2. Pierre Gasly – Alpine A525: 1’31.443 (+0.015)
3. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB21: 1’31.444 (+0.016)
4. Liam Lawson – Red Bull RB21: 1’31.560 (+0.132)
5. Alexander Albon – Williams FW47: 1’31.573 (+0.145)
6. Yuki Tsunoda – Racing Bulls 02: 1’31.610 (+0.182)
7. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari SF-25: 1’31.834 (+0.406)
8. Jack Doohan – Alpine A525: 1’31.841 (+0.413)
9. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’31.874 (+0.446)
10. Oscar Piastri – McLaren MCL39: 1’32.084 (+0.656)
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber C45: 1’32.169 (+0.741)
12. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Williams FW47: 1’33.245 (+1.817)
13. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’33.790 (+2.362)
14. George Russell – Mercedes W16: 1’34.607 (+3.179)
15. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari SF-25: 1’35.145 (+3.717)
16. Oliver Bearman – Haas VF-25: 1’35.522 (+4.094)
17. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls 02: 1’35.780 (+4.352)
18. Esteban Ocon – Haas VF-25: 1’36.363 (+4.935)

Another spun for a Red Bull car – but this time it’s Hadjar driving for their second team, Racing Bulls. He gets out of shape at the exit of turn four but gathers it up again.

Three drivers have joined in since the session restarted: Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon.

The second part of today’s session is about to begin, now with the team mates of the drivers who ran this morning in their cars. The pit exit light is green but no one is out yet.

The chequered flag has fallen on the first test session in Bahrain with Antonelli on top. Here’s a full run-down of the times and lap counts.

Sharp-eyed fans will have spotted McLaren have stopped using their cockpit-mounted digital onboard advertising panels, which transitioned between different brands. Here’s why.

Piastri is the next driver to have a brief moment at turn two, catching a slide in his McLaren, but not ending up in as much trouble as Lawson.

There’s less than half an hour to go in the morning’s running. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is fastest so far on a 1’31.428 but this time of day often sees drivers set quicker times, as the track has rubbered in but hasn’t hit its peak temperature yet.

A moment of drama for Lawson who briefly spins in turn three. He kicks up some gravel but, importantly, hasn’t hit anything and is able to get going again. The Red Bull began to get away from him at the exit of turn two and fully snapped sideways on the exit kerb, but he brought it to a stop quickly.

Piastri runs slightly wide at the exit of turn 11. He’s logged 37 laps so far but Antonelli has been busiest so far on 49.

It’s not too warm in Bahrain – Oliver Bearman on his radio complaining he’s cold. “I feel like the wind is picking up as well,” he adds.

Antonelli is the latest driver to snatch the front-right brake at turn one and miss the apex. He also gets crossed up in turn four. Mercedes are running FOM’s roll-hoop camera which exaggerates the camber from corner to corner, and as happened on several occasions last year it is noticeably off-centre on the straights.

Williams have displaced Red Bull from the top of the times by a mere thousandth of a second. Albon puts the FW47 ahead. Lawson, meanwhile, had a minor off-track moment at the exit of turn four.

Times halfway through the morning session as Lawson improves his time again:
1. Liam Lawson – Red Bull RB21: 1’31.574
2. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’31.874 (+0.300)
3. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari SF-25: 1’32.050 (+0.476)
4. Yuki Tsunoda – Racing Bulls 02: 1’32.161 (+0.587)
5. Alexander Albon – Williams FW47: 1’32.199 (+0.625)
6. Jack Doohan – Alpine A525: 1’32.290 (+0.716)
7. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber C45: 1’32.389 (+0.815)
8. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes W16: 1’33.907 (+2.333)
9. Oscar Piastri – McLaren MCL39: 1’34.227 (+2.653)
10. Oliver Bearman – Haas VF-25: 1’35.619 (+4.045)

The times are still improving, Alonso now quickest with a 1’31.874, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of Lawson. The wind appears to be picking up a little bit – it was very blustery at the track yesterday when Mercedes and Red Bull were shaking down their new cars.

Lawson goes quickest with a 1’31.914 on hards in the Red Bull RB21.

Alexander Albon has a look at the inside of Nico Hulkenberg at turn one but thinks better of it. Both cars thickly coated in flow-vis, Albon’s rear wing bright red.

Now the McLaren driver gets a little bit loose and clambers onto the kerb in turn three, which will have his engineers wincing over the state of his floor.

Piastri has finally put McLaren’s first time of the test on the board, he goes eighth, 1.6s off Hamilton’s pace.

Times so far:
1. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari SF-25: 1’32.621
2. Alexander Albon – Williams FW47: 1’32.862 (+0.241)
3. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin AMR25: 1’33.031 (+0.410)
4. Liam Lawson – Red Bull RB21: 1’33.137 (+0.516)
5. Jack Doohan – Alpine A525: 1’33.196 (+0.575)
6. Yuki Tsunoda – Racing Bulls 02: 1’33.576 (+0.955)
7. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber C45: 1’33.842 (+1.221)
8. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes W16: 1’34.990 (+2.369)
9. Oliver Bearman – Haas VF-25: 1’35.619 (+2.998)

With an hour and 10 minutes on the clock the only driver yet to set a lap time so far is Oscar Piastri in the McLaren.

Alonso moves to the top of the times now with a 1’33.031.

A little lock-up for Alonso in the heavy braking zone at turn one, sending up a puff of tyre smoke.

Yuki Tsunoda improves to third on the times sheets with a 1’34.417. Red Bull confirmed yesterday that, having passed him over for a promotion from their second team this year, he will be their official reserve driver in case they need a substitute for Verstappen or Lawson.

Jack Doohan, one of six rookies in the field this year, is now quickest with a 1’33.196 with a set of hard tyres on his Alpine.

Lawson set that early headline time on the hard tyres, which in a change from last year are now one of six different compounds available for drivers this year. F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli has introduced a new, softer ‘C6’ tyre to its range this year. It’s far too soft for this track, however, only Ferrari and Williams have selected a set for this test, and they’ve only taken one set each.

After the first 10 minutes of this opening, four-hour session, Red Bull newcomer Liam Lawson heads the times on a 1’35.806 but that’s a long way from a representative time – last year’s pole position at this track was a 1’29.179, set by his team mate Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton joins the track in his Ferrari – writing that is going to take some getting used to…

Antontelli is followed out by Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin AMR25.

The pit lane exit lights have gone from red to green and Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers out with a substantial testing rig on the front of his Mercedes W16, which ran for the first time yesterday.

Every driver on the grid is due to participate in today’s test.

Welcome to day one of testing for the 2025 F1 season on RaceFans Live. The test will begin at 10am local time (7am UK time).

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