McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the first day of F1’s 2025 pre-season test at Bahrain International Circuit.
Norris topped the timing sheet and the afternoon session with 1m 30.430 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, whilst reigning champion – Max Verstappen settled for third ahead of Charles Leclerc on a productive day aside from a power outage in the middle of the afternoon session.
Morning Session
Mercedes’ Antonelli was first out on track followed by the oldest driver on the grid – Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, as several of the morning runners immediately ventured out for installation laps.
Red Bull’s Liam Lawson then Alpine’s Jack Doohan were the initial pacesetters but Alonso emerged fastest in the opening hour, having set 1m 33.031 in the 50th minute, but Williams’ Alex Albon displaced him on the hour mark with 1m 32.862, but Ferrari’s new driver – Lewis Hamilton went 0.241 seconds faster a minute later.
Lawson and Alonso soon exchanged fastest laps before the Kiwi proceeded to set the pace until Albon displaced him with just under two hours of running left, as the British-Thai driver posted 1m 31.573 to go fastest from Lawson by 0.001s.
Antonelli however finished the first morning session of the three-day test on top with 1m 31.428 which was set with 55 minutes left of running, whilst Lawson managed to put himself second and 0.145s slower but ahead of Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Hamilton, Doohan, Alonso, Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg.
Haas’ full-season rookie, Oliver Bearman was tenth and slowest of the morning runners as he successfully completed his planned programme, which saw the Brit focus mainly on data gathering across 72 laps – with only Tsunoda managing more laps as the Japanese driver managed 78 laps for Racing Bulls.
Afternoon Session
A quiet start to the session saw nobody venture out in the opening minutes until Isack Hadjar was the first of the afternoon runners to venture out onto the circuit, as every team switched driver for the rest of the opening day’s testing action.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly soon was the first driver to make an impact upon the timesheets as he went 0.015s shy of Antonelli’s effort, and ahead of Verstappen who soon afterwards went third-quickest overall.
Mercedes however looked strong on their one-lap pace as Russell posted 1m 31.082 on the C3 tyre in the 75th minute to go quickest, whilst Gasly soon went 0.271s slower as he too managed to beat Antonelli’s time.
With 106 minutes on the clock, Leclerc produced 1m 30.878 on the C3 tyre to displace Russell, whilst Norris endured a quiet if frustrating start but managed to put himself third just before the two-hour mark.
Red flags were out with just over two hours of running completed as the Bahrain International Circuit was hit by a complete power outage across the whole track and in pits, although power was steadily reinstalled in stages after a 27 minute delay but light rain began to fall.
The session eventually resumed 67 minutes after the initial red flags and with 24 minutes left of the initial running, Norris posted 1m 30.430 on the C3 tyre to top the session, as Russell eventually fell short by 0.157s after the session was extended by another hour due to the power outage.
Reigning champion, Verstappen finished third quickest ahead of Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Gasly in the overall timesheet, with Antonelli seventh and the last driver within one second of Norris’ fastest lap time.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 30.430 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.157 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.244 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.448 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.525 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.923 |
| 7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.998 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 1.130 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.143 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 1.180 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 1.201 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.260 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.404 |
| 14 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 1.411 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.444 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.519 |
| 17 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.654 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 1.739 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 3.170 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 5.092 |
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