Antonelli within the lead, then Lawson
F1 lastly kicks off the 2025 season with the primary 4 hours of testing in Bahrain. On a Sakhir circuit lined by clouds and with unusually cool temperatures for the Bahrain desert, the quickest within the morning of the primary day of winter testing was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who positioned his Mercedes on the prime of the session within the ultimate hour. The younger Italian expertise, driving a W16 that appeared fairly well-balanced from the primary laps on observe, stopped the clock at 1:31.428, over a second quicker than one of the best time set a 12 months in the past by Max Verstappen after the primary 4 hours of labor (1:32.548).
In second place is Liam Lawson on the Pink Bull, additionally accountable for the primary spin of the 2025 F1 season – with out penalties, as he was in a position to proceed just a few moments later, albeit with flat-spotted tires. The New Zealander is 132 thousandths of a second behind Antonelli, in a leaderboard nonetheless dominated by nice stability on the prime: in lower than two-tenths we additionally discover Alex Albon’s Williams and Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bulls.
Hamilton-Ferrari, the massive names of the Bahrain F1 exams
Nonetheless, probably the most anticipated of all was clearly Lewis Hamilton, making his debut in F1 testing in Bahrain and, typically, in an official F1 session driving the Ferrari SF-25. The seven-time world champion examined with C3 tires, typically working with a medium-high gas load. Sir Lewis closed the morning with the fifth quickest time, four-tenths behind his successor at Mercedes. Regardless of the instances, that are nonetheless of restricted significance (and due to this fact much less necessary at this stage), in his first outings on observe, Ferrari’s new automobile appeared a bit nervous and with a moderately unstable rear finish. In his Ferrari testing debut, the seven-time world champion accomplished a strong 70 laps.
With restricted time to adapt to his new automobile, Hamilton’s essential goal was to keep away from any vital interruptions. This objective was met, and consequently, each the Brit and his staff are prone to be happy.
The others
The standings after these first 4 hours of the 2025 System 1 World Championship see Jack Doohan in sixth place, with Fernando Alonso in seventh forward of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Nico Hulkenberg is ninth with Sauber, whereas Oliver Bearman is tenth and final within the morning instances, over 4 seconds behind Antonelli: a transparent signal that the younger Ferrari Driver Academy expertise targeted on a distinct workload from the others, primarily concentrating on excessive gas load testing. The F1 exams in Bahrain will resume within the afternoon, from 13:00 to 17:00 Italian time, and can be lined dwell, as at all times, by ScuderiaFans.com with minute-by-minute updates.
Testing – Day 1 – AM timesheet
1) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:31.428, 78 laps
2) Liam Lawson, Pink Bull, 1:31.560, 58 laps
3) Alex Albon, Williams 1:31.573, 63 laps
4) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:31.610, 78 laps
5) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:31.834, 70 laps
6) Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841, 68 laps
7) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:31.874, 46 laps
8) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:32.084, 66 laps
9) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:32.169, 55 laps
10) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.522, 72 laps
Everybody set quickest instances on medium tyres
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