With F1’s 2025 pre-season testing over, here is a look at three lessons that fans have learned heading into the new season.
The three-day test at Bahrain International Circuit saw teams experiment with their new race cars for the upcoming season which gets underway with practice in Melbourne, Australia, on 14 March.
This test also offered fans a chance to get a glimpse as to the potential pecking order although in-season development will naturally produce some surprise changes, yet this season will see teams have one eye on 2026 which sees the technical regulations revamped.
Now focusing on this upcoming season at hand, there are still some huge lessons that were learned heading into the new campaign.
Four-Team Title Fight
The first thing that many fans look for in testing is signs of who is likely to challenge for the title and this year, we might just get a four-team title fight with reigning constructors, McLaren and Mercedes looking like frontrunners after Lando Norris and George Russell topped the opening and final days respectively.
McLaren however spent a lot of time in their garage across the three-day test which could be a sign of either confidence or concern about their MCL39 car, but their qualifying simulations suggest that they will again be right in the title mix.
Ferrari though are certainly right on the tail because although the Scuderia didn’t top the overall timesheets, they did top two of the three morning sessions and do look very close to their immediate rivals, although we don’t know the fuel loads so Ferrari might just of sandbagged a little to hide its true potential.
The Scuderia also has seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton partnering Charles Leclerc and given that Hamilton has won the title in his second season with a new team, expectations are more on 2026 with new technical regulations but I wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton settles quickly and gets right in on the title fight this season.
Red Bull meanwhile can’t be underestimated but it is more than likely that reigning champion, Max Verstappen will lead their title charge, having waited until the final afternoon to show his potential properly but he will need to be at his absolute best because the competition will be much tougher from the get-go than at this stage last season.
Either way, F1 is heading into the season-opener with an unpredictable state of play in terms of the frontrunners which surely can only mean a titanic title battle lies ahead.
Williams Set Midfield Pace
2024 saw Williams stutter to a lowly ninth-placed finish in the constructors’ standings with only 17 points and a mid-season driver change, but 2025 promises to be stronger with Carlos Sainz now partnering Alex Albon in one of F1’s most exciting partnerships.
The renewed positivity will also be helped by the fact that Sainz topped the second day of testing and Albon finished third on the final day, underlining Williams’ potential to kick on and fight firmly in the midfield with two high-quality drivers capable of delivering results in the right car.
Although Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has also looked like a competitive midfield pacesetter, Williams do have the stronger partnership of the midfield challengers and I really do think that they could be firm Q2 if not Q3 contenders for much of this season.
Unknown Bearman
With anticipation high for his first full rookie season in F1 following three solid stand-in appearances, Oliver Bearman has certainly emerged as an unknown across pre-season testing with the slowest time on all three days of running.
Haas however didn’t seem particularly concerned about climbing up the timesheets as they focused instead on their own data gathering across primarily long runs, as evidenced by Bearman having managed 197 of their 457 laps despite a bodywork issue during his final session in the car.
It is therefore hard to get a reading on where the Chelmsford-born 19 year-old Brit truly stands heading into the new season, which adds a layer of intrigue going into the first race especially in relation to where he matches up to his more experienced teammate – Esteban Ocon in Haas’ all-new driver line-up.
Although Bearman is unlikely to challenge Red Bull’s Liam Lawson plus Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the rookie stakes due to the contrast in machinery, we still don’t know how he stands against Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar who will be his nearest rookie competitors which throws up further speculation.
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