McLaren

McLaren headed into the test favourites off the back of its championship-winning efforts last year. The car was presented early and the team spoke with confidence, something it hasn’t always done when unveiling a new car (remember 2023!?). On track, the MCL39 largely lived up to expectations. It seems a step forward in most aspects but it is a handful; Lando Norris highlighting some rear-end instability. Whether that’s a result of the car design or a by-product of a cooler-than-usual Bahrain circuit – a track McLaren historically doesn’t go well at – remains to be seen. Even allowing for that, long run pace was the class of the field and the Papaya squad heads to Melbourne favourites.

Ferrari

The arrival of Lewis Hamilton has put the spotlight on Ferrari this season and, during the three days of pre-season running, delivered largely as expected. The Scuderia is fast, but perhaps not the fastest. Its long-run pace is solid but did seem to suffer greater degradation than McLaren – though that should be taken as an indicator rather than an absolute given the nature of testing. On the final day there was a reliability gremlin and Hamilton’s day was cut short by a suspected hydraulic leak in the car. Nonetheless, Ferrari remains in the top four, though suggestion in the paddock is perhaps not in the top two.

Red Bull

After three days of running, Red Bull ended pre-season testing with the equal fewest laps of all teams – tied with Aston Martin. On the second day, Liam Lawson’s time on track was interrupted by a water pressure leak and on the final day Max Verstappen logged only 81 laps for the team as it evaluated a number of new items, including a new nose and front wing assembly. Despite that lack of running, pace seemed good, especially over the all-important long runs, if a step behind McLaren. And the atmosphere in the garage reflects that, leaving Red Bull as perhaps the second-fastest team behind its orange-clad rivals.

Mercedes

During testing, laps are gold dust and on that metric, Mercedes is in pole position with 456 laps to its name – tied with Haas for the most running. It has more than 150 laps of data more than Red Bull and Aston Martin which, at this early stage, is an extremely valuable resource. On track the Mercedes looked solid; it wasn’t a stand out but it also didn’t look ponderous or likely to throw drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli off the road and its high-speed change of direction was good. The key for this year’s Mercedes was to iron out some of the balance issues that blighted recent designs and there does appear to have been movement there. That has left it nip and tuck with Red Bull for next-best after McLaren, and a nose clear of Ferrari.

Aston Martin

It would be fair to describe Aston Martin’s pre-season as a bit of a mess. The final day saw an unwell Lance Stroll replaced by Fernando Alonso before the Canadian climbed in at lunch, only to have to climb out again, losing the squad important track time. On track the car did not look as sharp as the leading four, with traction a notable weakness. Predicted by most to lead the ‘best of the rest’ charge behind the leading four, instead the start of the season could be rather character-building for the Silverstone squad.

Alpine

The nightmare of 2024 seems a distant memory now with Alpine enjoying a superb three days of pre-season running. The squad has used the same tub as last year, having done much to slim it down after being overweight initially. It’s a choice made with an eye to 2026 but allows it to more directly build on the progress it enjoyed in the latter part of 2024. What’s more, it was fast and well-behaved such and saw Pierre Gasly star on the final day in Bahrain. Indeed, the squad looks to have leapfrogged up the order to sit fifth fastest in the eyes of most – and if your name is Andrea Stella, team boss at McLaren, that’s no longer the midfield; that’s part of the leading group.

Haas

Esteban Ocon was the busiest driver across the test, with 259 laps for Haas. That was backed up by new team-mate Oliver Bearman who recorded 197 laps over the three days to ensure the American-registered operation’s engineers filled their boots with data. The car looked competitive, somewhere on par with the likes of Williams and Racing Bulls with a performance that suggests the squad has neither made significant progress, but hasn’t lost ground either.

Racing Bulls

Almost anonymous across the three days in Bahrain (saving an Isack Hadjar spin on Day 1), the highlight for Racing Bulls was banking the third-most laps across the test. The new machine proved to be an average performer, with nothing to complain about excessively, but it also failed to set the world alight. Look for the Faenza team to be somewhere in the scrap for the bottom end of the points, perhaps half a step behind where it was last year as others around appeared to make more progress.

Williams

There’s an air of confidence at Grove after a positive three-day outing in Bahrain. The car performed well and both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were happy. Feedback from Sainz, who tested last year’s car in Abu Dhabi in December, specifically noted that some of the areas of weakness had been addressed. But the team remains coy, almost disbelieving of the performance through fear that it has perhaps shown more of its hand than rivals. The target for this year is more consistent points and to be closer to the top four, which on evidence of Bahrain is entirely possible. It ended pre-season with arguably the sixth-best car, but it’s much closer to Alpine in fifth and not too far from the top four, either.

Sauber

From nothing more than on-board footage it is clear that the Sauber lacks load compared to its rivals. The car proved a handful for Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto by comparison to the more planted machines at the top end of two (though the McLaren is a little feisty at times) and there were similar weaknesses to those experienced by Racing Bulls. A year out from the squad rebranding to become the Audi factory team and it again looks a season to be endured more than enjoyed.