What we didn’t learn from the F1 Bahrain pre-season test

Testing was held in unusual conditions, so will the results be representative? – Oleg Karpov

On Thursday evening in Bahrain, a few hours after Lando Norris’ impressive long run, Andrea Stella was asked during his media briefing about whether McLaren will change its approach to celebrating success this year. Will it continue to do team photos after podiums as it has done in the past, or will it only do them after wins?

That McLaren will win races – and probably a lot of them – isn’t even in doubt after the Bahrain test.

But Stella, being Stella, didn’t seem as convinced as the media about McLaren’s form in relation to the competition, citing the unique conditions of this test, with temperatures being extremely low compared to what the teams usually face in Bahrain. And that, he suggested, could be masking some of the “traditional issues” McLaren has faced at this track in recent years. While we’re used to the McLaren boss playing down expectations, he’s got a good point. Any predictions about the pecking order at this stage are based on three days of running at one track – and in circumstances that the teams will almost certainly not face again this season, not even in Bahrain.

What the teams had to deal with was a cold track, a very abrasive asphalt, and a layout that above all demands good traction. Yes, McLaren certainly looked the strongest. And yes, it is encouraging for the team, which has previously struggled in Bahrain more than at most other tracks on the calendar.

However, we saw last year how the pecking order can vary from one race to the next, depending not only on the layout itself but also on the smoothness of the tarmac, the temperature and even the intensity and direction of wind. So while most of the analysis based on what we saw in Bahrain last week may be spot on, it may not be applicable to what we’ll see in Melbourne, China or even Bahrain when F1 returns there in April.

More predictable, but testing issues, so where does Red Bull really stand? – Jake Boxall-Legge

“It can’t be worse than last year,” Max Verstappen said of his new RB21 chariot during pre-season testing. There was more to it: he enjoyed his first time with the car, which he noted was “a big difference” to 2024’s capricious RB20. But it’s not the most glowing assessment: has his time working in the UK with Red Bull added a new penchant for British understatement, or is it simply damning with faint praise?

We’ve not really seen the full picture from Red Bull. Pre-season predictions swing from challenging McLaren from the get-go, to being nestled somewhere in the battle with Ferrari and Mercedes – that being said, we don’t really know where Ferrari and Mercedes are either – while messaging is also mixed from within the team.

Red Bull’s adviser Helmut Marko stated after the opening day that the RB21 is a much more predictable customer, while retaining its delicate touch in using the tyres, but issues seemed to crop up as time elapsed in the Bahraini desert; a water pressure issue enforced a pitlane lay-off on day two, and further teething problems led technical director Pierre Wache to conclude it was “not as smooth a test as we expected”. The team believes it can iron out the creases, but it doesn’t quite exude its usual confidence heading into Melbourne.

Just how ready is Liam Lawson? – Ben Hunt

If there is one word to sum up Liam Lawson’s pre-season F1 testing, it would probably be ‘underwhelming’ – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, his pace was lacking compared to that of Red Bull’s rivals, but the same can be said of his team-mate, Max Verstappen.

Red Bull put this down to a number of factors but mainly that the day it decided to put Lawson in the car, it rained so it opted to switch its plan for high-speed runs to long runs instead to check the car for general reliability over a race distance.

For Lawson’s part, he spoke about getting up to speed and his general consensus was that he was left feeling positive heading into the first race of the season. Red Bull reported that while Lawson was not as quick as his team-mate, his feedback at least correlated with Verstappen’s and they agree on the improvements required with the car.

Ultimately, it is too early to tell if the New Zealander is ready, but as we know too well, it is all about building a relationship with Verstappen and keeping both sides of the garage happy.

The fact that Lawson is not yet putting Verstappen under pressure, and that the two drivers are pushing in the same direction, bodes well for Lawson’s development and should allow him the luxury of some additional time before he finds his place in the team under more intense scrutiny.

How real is Williams’ pace in congested midfield fight? – Ronald Vording

On Friday night, Williams was mentioned as a positive surprise by many in the Bahrain paddock. Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz showed pace over one lap, although everybody knows that lap times don’t say much in winter testing. Fuel loads and engine modes remain big unknowns, and therefore the question remains: were these glory runs to some extent or is Williams a real contender for the title ‘best of the rest’ behind the four top teams?

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

More important than flying laps are the long runs. Williams ranked sixth in them with an average deficit of 0.80s per lap compared to McLaren. It’s promising and with 395 laps completed the test has been productive as well. And still it remains difficult to predict if Williams can really surprise in 2025 or if it has simply shown a bit more than some of its rivals?

Exactly the opposite goes for Aston Martin. The Silverstone-based team is listed as one of the biggest disappointments, but is the team really as bad as it looked? Or did the conditions – with a disturbed run plan and Lance Stroll feeling ill – mask some potential of the AMR25? All these questions remain until Australia and make the F1 midfield for 2025 both extremely hard to predict.

Will Haas still possess its one-lap pace? – Mark Mann-Bryans

A casual viewer of pre-season testing would have occasionally scanned the timing sheets throughout the three days in Bahrain and, most likely, would have seen either Oliver Bearman or Esteban Ocon languishing towards the bottom.

The Haas strategy for large parts of the test was focused on long runs and race pace, something which echoes its approach at the same stage 12 months ago.

A rare opportunity for him to truly put his foot down, Ocon was able to put in a performance test towards the end of Friday and was a little over a second off the pace, albeit having run earlier than those who ultimately led the way. Bearman, meanwhile, put a new spin on the idea of ‘removing the covers’ of a new car as his final run of the test was truncated after his engine cover fell off and landed on the track as a visible crack also opened up along the side of his Haas.

All in all, Haas was not one of the teams to catch either the eye or the imagination in Bahrain and it remains to be seen where the US squad will slot into the pack heading to Melbourne – especially considering Nico Hulkenberg qualified fourth in Abu Dhabi (before dropping down the grid due to penalties) so the squad does have a lot to live up to.