The DRS Zone

Category: Pre Season Test

  • F1 Testing Day 2 – Rain in Bahrain

    Yes, you read that correctly, the morning session was interrupted by rain. The only two teams to bring intermediate tyres are Alpine and Haas. During the period where the track was wet, we saw Ocon venture out for some laps on the intermediates, although the track was not wet enough.

    Driver lineup wise, it was very similar to day one except Lawson drove all day in the Red Bull and Sainz was in all day for Williams.

    Talking of Sainz, he topped the time sheet at the end of the day, he also did the greatest number of laps for one single driver with 127. Very positive signs for Williams. They have said that the most of their focus has switched to 2026, but they have continued to develop the chassis that they used last season. The Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc were 2nd and 3rd respectively.

    Mercedes158
    VCARB140
    Kick136
    HaaS135
    Ferrari128
    Williams127
    Mclaren121
    Alpine120
    Aston Martin102
    Red Bull91

    With temperatures unusually low in Bahrain it’s even harder to judge how teams are faring and how the order stands up. However, one thing to note from watching it on TV was the long run pace of Lando Norris. He was significantly quicker than anyone else on long run pace, however whether this will have been helped by the lower temperatures meaning less tyre degradation, only time will tell.

    The only real drama from the drivers came when Piastri mad contact with the rear of Hulkenberg’s Sauber in turn 8 in the morning session. Thankfully for both drivers there was no significant damage that caused them to lose significant time.

    Most of the teams had some decent running although Liam Lawson lost some time whilst Red Bull worked to resolve a water pressure failure and the team saying they needed to “service” the car in the afternoon session, which seems a bit odd as no one else needed to service their cars. Regardless of the issue for Red Bull everyone seems strangely pleased with their cars which is quite unusual. However, as this is the last season of the current rules, we generally see quite a close field.

    1) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:29.348, 127 laps

    2) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:29.379, 45 laps

    3) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:29.431, 83 laps

    4) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:29.778, 71 laps

    5) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:29.784, 87 laps

    6) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:30.229, 57 laps

    7) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:30.252, 91 laps

    8) Jack Doohan, Alpine, 1:30.368, 80 laps

    9) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:30.430, 40 laps

    10) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:30.675, 94 laps

    11) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:30.700, 45 laps

    12) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:30.793, 46 laps

    13) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:30.821, 44 laps

    14) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:30.882, 77 laps

    15) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:31.057, 80 laps

    16) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:31.457, 56 laps

    17) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.071, 69 laps

    18) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:34.372, 66 laps

    The final day looks like it should be warmer and sunnier, and we may well see some qualifying simulations towards the end of the day.

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  • F1 Testing Day 1

    The 2025 F1 Season officially started yesterday with the first of three days of testing in Bahrain

    The first day saw all drivers take part and one of the key things to note, was reliability. None of the teams seemed to suffer any major reliability issues that caused them to lose any significant time, and most teams managed a good number of laps.

    HaaS160
    VCARB154
    Mercedes148
    Ferrari141
    Alpine140
    Red Bull132
    Williams131
    Mclaren118
    Kick114
    Aston Martin88

    McLaren will obviously take the headline for topping the session, but we all know that testing means nothing, and we won’t know the true order until we get to Australia. However, the car does look good. From the onboards there isn’t much wheel spin, and it seems very planted through the corners.

    McLaren, unlike some of the other teams have not made any radical changes, Zak Brown has said that whilst it looks the same as last year there are plenty of new innovations on the car that have not been seen, and rumour has it that they have gained 4 tenths on last year’s car. The other three teams at the front have all tried something different this year, Ferrari have changed their suspension layout, Red Bull have re-designed the front of the car to improve their understeer issues and Mercedes are trying something different, which they are trying to keep under wraps.

    The rest of the field look quite close again. Alpine are certainly having a better start to testing than they were this time last year which is positive. Aston Martin, although completing the lowest number of laps look solid and I would say so far, the car looks better than last season. The remaining teams all look like they have made improvements on this time last season but what the order will be is hard to guess

    Unusually there were no red flags brought out by cars stopped on track, however there was a lengthy stop after the power to the circuit was lost which was slightly embarrassing. As a result, the session was extended so the teams could recuperate the lost running time, and all the rookies got through the session without issues save for the odd spin and running wide at some corners.

    This is how the first day ended.

    1) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:30.430, 52 laps

    2) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:30.587, 70 laps

    3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:30.674, 74 laps

    4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:30.878, 71 laps

    5) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:30.955, 68 laps

    6) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:31.353, 72 laps

    7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:31.428, 78 laps

    8) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:31.560, 58 laps

    9) Alex Albon, Williams 1:31.573, 63 laps

    10) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:31.610, 78 laps

    11) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:31.631, 76 laps

    12) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:31.690, 59 laps

    13) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:31.834, 70 laps

    14) Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841, 68 laps

    15) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:31.874, 46 laps

    16) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:31.949, 42 laps

    17) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:32.084, 66 laps

    18) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:32.169, 55 laps

    19) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.600, 88 laps

    20) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.522, 72 laps

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