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Relive the first day of the 2025 winter tests with live commentary

Here we are, the 2025 Formula 1 season begins with the first day of winter testing in Bahrain! Follow the two sessions of this Wednesday, from 8am to noon and from 13pm to 17pm.

Published 26/02/2025 à 18:05

Michael Duforest

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Relive the first day of the 2025 winter tests with live commentary

© DPPI

As in recent years, the Formula 1 is heading to the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain for three days of winter testing. The opportunity to meet the full F1 field for the first time, and to discover for real the new features of the season, such as the five rookies on the grid or the arrival of Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari. Each team only has one car and the drivers usually share it every day. Discover the program for this Wednesday:

Wednesday February 26
McLaren : Piastres (Morning) / Norris (afternoon)
Ferrari : Hamilton (morning) / Leclerc (afternoon)
Red Bull : Verstappen (morning) / Lawson (afternoon)
Mercedes : Antonelli (morning) / Russell (afternoon)
Aston Martin : Alonso (Morning) / Stroll (afternoon)
Alpine : Doohan (morning) / gasly (afternoon)
Haas : Bearman (morning) / Or with (afternoon)
Racing Bulls : tsunoda (morning) / Hadjar (afternoon)
Williams : Albon (Morning) / Sainz (afternoon)
Sauber : Hulkenberg (morning) / Bortoleto (afternoon)

You can follow the times in real time on the official live timing of F1.

Winter Testing – Bahrain 2025
Follow Day 1 live with commentary

18:00 p.m. – END OF DAY! Lando Norris finished the day at the top of the timesheets ahead of George Russell and Max Verstappen. Next Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz et Pierre Gasly, six drivers from as many different teams in the first six places. On the French side, Isack Hadjar finished 11th, 1″201 behind Norris. Esteban Ocon is himself second to last, ahead of his teammate Oliver Bearman, but with 86 laps on the clock, the record for the day.

17h57 - The session is coming to an end and some drivers are taking advantage of it to do a final stint. Lando Norris (McLaren) came out driving an MCL39 decked out in flow vis, the fluorescent paint meant to represent the flow of air along the length of the car.

17h54 – Esteban Ocon is the record holder for the number of laps. The Frenchman completed 83 laps of the Sakhir track. What an afternoon! Conversely, Lance stroll (Aston Martin) is only at 36 laps, the lowest total of the day.

17h51 - Gabriel Bortoleto moves up the rankings. With a time of 1'31″190, the Brazilian moves up to 12th position, 1″260 behind Lando Norris.

17h40 - There are twenty minutes left in this first day of testing in Bahrain, George Russell is currently on track as is Max Verstappen, will they do a long stint, or try to tease the time of Lando Norris, still at the forefront?

17h19 - The FIA ​​has confirmed the obligation of two minimum pit stops in Monaco, unlike the single mandatory stop to change tyre type at other Grands Prix:

Monaco GP: FIA adopts mandatory minimum of two pit stops

17h17 - Eight of the ten single-seaters are currently on track, despite the rather low temperatures, the teams want to obtain as much data as possible at night in view of the Grand Prix, which will take place on April 13.

17h06 - Classification :

17h04 - The Dutchman improved and moved up to third.

17h03 - Best time in the first sector for Max Verstappen, we could start this last hour with a new driver at the top of the timesheet…

16h55 - The rain remains fairly light, and the riders continue to put in the laps as we approach the last hour of the day's running.

16h43 - 🌧️ The rain continues to fall, but for now the riders continue to ride on slick tires.

16:36 p.m. – Best time for Lando Norris, who crossed the finish line in 1'30″430.

16:33 p.m. – Race management confirms that the session is extended by one hour, in order to make up for lost time following the power cut earlier.

16h15 - Before discovering the first really fast times of this last hour, don't forget that you can treat yourself to Pierre Gasly's 2025 helmet at 1/2 scale in our shop !

16:10 p.m. – 🟢 It’s finally back in Bahrain, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris take to the track, as well as Isack Hadjar!

16h09 - The session will restart in a minute!

16h00 - We're entering the final hour of testing for today... and the lights are still coming on quietly. A safety Ford Mustang is doing a lap of the circuit, hopefully that means it can get going again soon enough! If not, we're heading to the editorial kitchen to start snack time.

15h41 - It is not impossible that the FIA ​​will decide to give the teams more time, knowing that we are approaching 40 minutes of interruption.

15h36 - 💡 And there was light! On a few projectors that is… So we hope that everything can light up in a few minutes.

15h32 - The garages are lit up again, Gabriel Bortoleto gets into his Sauber, testing could resume soon. The circuit's artificial lights are still off, however, and it's now starting to rain all around the circuit... What a day!

15h25 - 🔴 We no longer have any official indication but it seems that the red flag is back, until we find power in Sakhir.

15h12 - 📺 The power cut:


15:10 p.m. – 🟢 Green flag again, although the pit or trackside lights do not appear to be back on!

15h07 - The pictures show that all the pitlane lights and the floodlights around the track have gone out, so we'll have to wait patiently for someone to reconnect the plug!

15:04 p.m. – 🔴 Red flag, it seems that some garages are affected by power cuts, including the garage Red Bull where mechanics have to use lamps to work around Max Verstappen's single-seater.

15h02 - We are now in the last two hours of driving, still no major problems to report, the laps are coming one after the other for all the single-seaters.

14:58 p.m. – 1'30″878 for Charles Leclerc, the first driver to go under 1'31 today, the times are accelerating as night falls...

14:14 p.m. – 1’31″082 for George Russell, who set the best time of the day with the C3 tires, which will be the soft tires for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

14h04 - The pitlane monitors indicate… rain expected around 16:20 p.m. French time! The decision by Aston and Haas Will the introduction of intermediate and rain tires finally be seen as common sense?

14h00 - One hour into this afternoon session, nine of the ten drivers have taken to the track, with only Lando Norris remaining in the McLaren garage for the moment.

13h55 - 📺 Isack Hadjar's spin:


13h48 - Clearly, no one wants to take the lead in the standings for the moment, Pierre Gasly is second, fifteen thousandths behind the Italian and therefore only one ahead of Verstappen!

13h46 - ↩️ Isack Hadjar crashes at turn 4, but the French driver manages to continue without going into the pits, he doesn't seem to have damaged his tires too much!

13h41 - As Max Verstappen often does, it took just seven laps for the four-time world champion to close in on Kimi Antonelli's time, placing his Red Bull second, sixteen thousandths behind!

13h36 - With Antonelli setting the fastest time this morning, it's probably the perfect time to order your official Mercedes 2025 polo shirt on our store !

13h34 - Charles Leclerc takes to the track in his turn with the Ferrari SF-25.

13h28 - Hadjar returns to the pits after a first run, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly follow him on the track.

13h20 - Indeed, Hadjar is the first driver to take to the Sakhir track this afternoon!

13h12 - Isack Hadjar prepares to get into his Racing Bulls, will the Frenchman be the first driver to take to the track?

13h06 - 📺 While we wait for the action to resume on the track, enjoy an onboard camera ride with Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari (we've been waiting for this for a year, it still feels strange to write it!):


13h03 - No one is on track at the moment, the mechanics finishing the work to convert the cars from one driver to another. We can see, however, that the wind is picking up. It is still 15°C in the air, and now 23°C on the track, with a 10% chance of rain.

13h00 - 🟢 Here we go again for four more hours of driving in Bahrain!

12h07 - We'll meet again at 13 p.m. with four more hours of driving!

12h00 - Checkered flag, and end of the first morning of winter testing! Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the fastest, and almost all the drivers will have managed to complete more than one race distance. The mechanics will now get to work to allow the other drivers from each team to take part in testing this afternoon.

Winter tests D1 – Morning: Antonelli the fastest in a studious morning

11h35 - As we enter the final half hour of running, half the cars are on track, Lawson, tsunoda, Hamilton, Doohan and Bearman.

11h21 - 📺 Liam Lawson's spin.


11h15 - With 58 laps completed, Yuki Tsunoda is the first to exceed the distance of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and its 57 laps.

11h14 - ☁️ It's still 15°C in the air but only 24 on the track now, really unusual conditions for Bahrain, and it could get worse tomorrow as rain is forecast!

11h01 - ↩️ Liam Lawson spins out of Turn 3 as we enter the final hour of running. The Red Bull driver manages to avoid the gravel and get going again, but his tyres are ruined!

10h53 - Liam Lawson is back on track, this time on medium tyres, will the Red Bull RB21 take control of the hierarchy? The New Zealander is driving with flow-vis paint on the front left of his single-seater.

10h42 - The one you voted best livery of the 2025 season, the Racing Bulls VCARB 02. Still enchanted now that it's on the track?

© DPPI

10h41 - Bearman joined Antonelli on the circuit as the yellow flag was briefly waved, but no problems appeared to be present.

10h38 - Alone on the track, Andrea Kimi Antonelli continues to line up the laps, the Italian rookie is the one who has covered the most kilometers today so far.

10h23 - After the pitot probes at the start of the day, the teams use flow-vis, a high viscosity paint, which allows the aerodynamic flows to be seen directly on the bodywork:

10h21 - As he takes the wheel of the Haas in the afternoon, Esteban Ocon explained that he did some team building with his new engineers and mechanics over the winter:

A “hard” team building for Esteban Ocon and his team

10h13 - Alexander albon is now at the top of the timesheet, one thousandth ahead of Liam Lawson's Red Bull!

10h05 - Two hours completed in this first session of winter testing, no problems to report on the different single-seaters, let's hope it continues like this!

9h56 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli is currently alone on the track, on medium tyres. Only Liam Lawson has so far set his best time on harder tyres, the Pirelli C1 or C2. Lewis Hamilton has so far completed the most laps, 31, but Antonelli should quickly overtake him.

9h39 - The first photos reach us from Bahrain, the opportunity to discover the F1 2025 on track!

IN PICTURES – F1 2025 cars take to the track in Bahrain for winter testing

9h28 - Liam Lawson now takes the lead up front Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso. All ten cars now have a time, in conditions that are still unusual for Bahrain, with clouds now covering the sun and the temperature not really increasing.

9h10 - If that Lewis Hamilton best time ever got you off your chair, now might be a good time to get your hands on the official Ferrari 2025 cap. in our shop, just to be ready to support the Reds in Melbourne!

9h05 - This message is totally anecdotal, but Lewis Hamilton has just set the best time with his Ferrari, in 1:32.621. However, we are not going to disturb the operators of the Maranello bells just yet…

8h58 - The pilot Williams has now moved to the top of the timesheets, while only Oscar Piastri has not yet set a time. The first of four hours of testing in this morning session is over, without any problems requiring an interruption!

8h39 - Alexander Albon is still engaged in installation laps with numerous pitot probes on his Williams.

8h35 - Leader of the standings, Jack Doohan is also the first driver to exceed ten laps of the track during these tests. The Australian, who took the start of a Grand Prix last year, continues his apprenticeship with a view to a first full season in the premier category… if enstone wants it!

8h29 - ☀️ A quick update on the current conditions, it's 15°C in the air and 29°C on the track, slightly cooler conditions than usual, at 10:30 am local time!

8h23 - The probes have been removed from most of the cars, and we can see for example Oliver Bearman starting to attack a little more at the wheel of his Haas. Be careful though, the number 1 rule of winter testing is always the same, the times are not representative!

8h05 - Alexander Albon is the only one who has not yet taken to the track with his Williams, but the Thai driver is present in his single-seater. Lawson, Hamilton, Antonelli and Tsunoda have completed laps, the other drivers have been content with installation laps for this start of winter testing.

8h05 - 📺 The moment the green light lit up the end of the pit lane!


8h03 - All cars are equipped with probes placed behind the front wheels, in order to measure the air speed and the aerodynamic impact of the front of the car on the air flows sent towards the sidepods.

8h00 - 🟢 Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the first to line up at the end of the pitlane, so he is the first to take to the track for these tests. Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton and Jack Doohan imitate him.

7h50 - With just ten minutes to go before the start of these winter tests, and unsurprisingly, a large number of journalists and photographers have gathered around the Ferrari garage, where Lewis Hamilton is preparing to take to the track...

7h45 - Hello everyone, welcome to follow in full this first day of winter testing on the Sakhir circuit, in Bahrain.

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Comment on this article! 2

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Comments

2 Comment (s)

H

Hilton Leon

26/02/2025 at 06:19 a.m.

Are you there or at home in front of Canal to comment?

Y

Yann

26/02/2025 at 08:16 a.m.

Good luck to the on-call journalist, and have a good F1 day everyone.

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