Bahrain F1 Day 1 Report: Top 4 remains firm, Aston Martin is holding its own and Haas is lapping the most

The cards will only be on the table on March 14, when the Australian Grand Prix, the season opener, gets underway. But some interpretations can already be drawn after Formula 1 completed the first of its three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, where there was everything from rain in the desert to a power cut on the circuit. On Wednesday, it was clear that in this 2025 transition to the regulatory changes for next year , the top four remains firm . In contrast, Aston Martin chose to run little and show even less in a team in which the brilliant Adrian Newey - the mastermind who led Red Bull to success - is already working ahead of time on the next car.

If a report card were to be drawn up for the opening day of testing, the highest score would go to champion McLaren, although Mercedes would not be far behind, who seemed to have an updated and powerful car after a season in which they went from less to more. Kimi Antonelli showed that 18 years is not a short time when you have experience and confidence: he led the morning session despite sharing the track with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and two-time champion Fernando Alonso. With a time of 1:31.428, the Italian driver led - then fell to seventh place when the times from the afternoon session were accumulated - and with 78 laps he was one of those who turned the most, only behind Esteban Ocon (88).

It is true that Hamilton and Alonso focused on other strategies. On his first official day as a Ferrari driver, the Englishman completed 70 laps in an SF-25 that has potential, although he still does not seem to have found the ideal setup. In addition, he went out on track with the aero rakes - the aerodynamic grilles that help the teams to decide which is the most optimal aerodynamic configuration - to give his team valuable information on how the air pressure impacted the car. This was later noticed in the afternoon session, when Charles Leclerc, without needing to seek the limits, obtained the best time of the day until, finally, finishing fourth, less than half a second behind Norris.

Aston Martin's work, however, was similar for Alonso and Lance Stroll, as they both hid the true performance of the new car. It was the team that ran the fewest laps (88 laps, between the 46 of the Asturian and the 42 of the Canadian, and 26 for Sauber, the other team that ran the fewest) and telemetry showed that they were running a conservative engine programme. It was also known that there were some complications, especially in the afternoon session, which increased due to the weather conditions and problems with the telemetry, while the AMR25 was found to have greater tyre wear than desired and a tendency to understeer.

When it comes to laps, Haas is the focus. The team that made headlines because Laura Muller made her debut as Esteban Ocon's race engineer and for the first time a female voice was heard in communication with the pits closed the standings with the Frenchman ahead of Oliver Bearman (20th) but his training plan focused on the run-in. With 88 and 72 laps respectively, the American team surpassed Racing Bulls' 154 laps, where Yuki Tsunoda was able to get into the top 10 of the times and Isack Hadjar placed himself just behind his teammate despite having one of the spins of the day.

The other was Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen's new teammate, who has already begun to feel the pressure of having the best driver in the world at his side. In the personal fight, who in addition to a spin lost carbon fiber elements of his car when he was behind Alex Albon, was second in his time but was nine-tenths behind the four-time F1 champion in the overall standings. Although he was not the only one who suffered from his teammate: the aforementioned Thai driver was six-tenths behind the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who made his debut at Williams with the fifth best time in the general table.

What happened to Jack Doohan and the Alpine that Franco Colapinto dreams of driving? He moved to the middle line, finishing sixth just 7 thousandths behind Hamilton in the first practice session. Then, when the track improved, Pierre Gasly showed the true performance of the A525, finishing sixth less than a second behind Norris. The Argentine driver, absent from the Sahkir circuit, did make an appearance on social media when an unexpected power cut paused afternoon practice for an hour. "The kettle for the mate didn't even heat up the water lpm," X responded when a user joked that the 21-year-old had caused the electrical fault by plugging in a toaster in the Alpine box.

The kettle for the mate didn't even heat up the water lpm

— Franco Colapinto (@FranColapinto) February 26, 2025

1. McLaren: The champion team did little (118) but enough for Lando Norris to be the fastest. Oscar Piastri, with a different work plan on the first day, finished 17th in the general classification. Good pace over one lap and no tyre degradation.

2. Mercedes : This is the team that brought the most and best updates, it turned a lot and well (the third with the highest number of laps), with Antonelli leading his session with the objective of doing many laps (78, only behind Ocon's 88) and Russell staying very close to Norris appealing to the pace on a single lap.

3. Red Bull : Improvements are noticeable on the car that failed to retain the constructors' title last year, with both Verstappen and Lawson finishing at the top of the leaderboard in both sessions.

4. Ferrari : There is potential in the team that fought McLaren for the trophy until the very last race. This was particularly evident with Leclerc, who took advantage of the data obtained by Hamilton in the morning and was the first driver to break the 1m31 barrier. Will the partnership between the most successful driver and the team finally bear fruit?

5. Williams : took a step forward with an elite driver like Carlos Sainz, who put them ahead of Alpine in the general classification. Strong pace and good running, with 131 laps.

6. Alpine : The team aiming to finish fifth in the standings, displacing Aston Martin, was almost four-tenths behind Williams when Gasly took on Sainz. A similar situation occurred between Doohan and Albon.

7. Racing Bulls : Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda managed to get into the top 10 and Isack Hadjar was very close to his teammate in his Formula 1 debut, although he suffered a little with the brakes.

8. Aston Martin : It's a mystery what will happen with Lawrence Stroll's team, which did not show its cards on Wednesday. It has more but the question is whether it can remain the best of the rest, as in 2024.

9. Sauber : They seem to have a more stable and reliable car than the 2024 one, which barely scored any points in the last race. Gabriel Bortoleto is a promising driver who looks set to do very well after being F2 champion.

10. Haas: another who showed little but because in his work plan he prioritized filming at pace. In addition, he has one of the best drivers under 21