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2025 F1 season/Christian Horner/f1 testing/Red Bull

Horner puzzled by “oddball” timing of FIA’s new front wing tests · F1 · RaceFans

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted he is puzzled by the FIA’s plan to introduce new stiffness tests on wings this year.

The sport’s governing body has confirmed it will impose tougher new rear wing tests from the first round of the championship next month. However it will wait until round nine, the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of May, to introduce new tests of front wing stiffness.

The rules are being introduced after the FIA studied the behaviour of teams’ wings at high speed last year. The governing body is concerned teams have designed them to deform at peak loads to improve top speeds, before regaining their shape when cars decelerate, to generate maximum downforce when cornering.

Horner said it will “be interesting, the effect that it has” when the new rules are introduced, but queried the decision not to change both tests from the start of the season.

“The slight oddball about it is the timing of it,” he said. “Why race nine?

“It might have been better to have addressed [it] during the off-season because [teams] end up doing two specs of wing [designs].”

However he is unsure how the change might affect the pecking order between the teams. “Who will gain or who will lose from it, I think is impossible to predict,” he said.

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Last year McLaren was one of several teams which changed the design of their rear wing after their rivals raised concerns with the FIA following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is unconcerned by the coming change in the rules.

“I don’t think it’s a significant change for us,” he said. “I think it’s too hard to tell who wins or loses over it, because I don’t think it’s going to be a material change for anybody.

“So I’m not expecting there to be a winner and loser or some change in the pecking order at that time because of that.”

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2025 F1 season/F1 Pictures/f1 testing

Pictures: 2025 F1 pre-season testing day one: Bahrain · RaceFans

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Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test


Pictures from the first day of testing for the 2025 F1 season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

More images will be added here

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/McLaren/Zak Brown

McLaren have been ‘bold’ with ‘innovative’ new car for 2025

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Constructors’ champions McLaren have not been conservative with their car development for 2025, according to Zak Brown.

The McLaren Racing CEO said “there’s a lot of innovation” on the team’s new MCL39, which first ran at Silverstone two weeks ago.

“We definitely didn’t put it away after Abu Dhabi and polish it and just roll it out here,” said Brown. “It has a lot of innovation on it.”

Speaking during the first day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, Brown said the team was encouraged by the first signs from the MCL39.

“What I’m liking is the car is doing what we thought it would do,” he said. “Some of the innovations were bold so we needed to make sure they were going to work and not be issues.

“So we’re kind of ticking off the ‘yes that works’, ‘yes that’s going according to plan’. It’s way too early to see what the grid looks like but what we’re doing is getting through our run plan, it’s going according to plan, so I’m very happy with that.”

Four teams won multiple races last year. With a significant overhaul of F1’s technical regulations coming next year, Brown expects some teams to abandon work on their current cars early on. However he said McLaren are already hard at work on their 2026 car.

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“Probably, some teams maybe [won’t] put as much effort into ’25 because they don’t think they have a chance and therefore double down on ’26,” he said. “So that’ll be interesting to see what that looks like in ’26.

“Then you have ourselves and I’m sure many others [who are thinking] before we think about ’26, let’s make sure we optimise ’25 because we have a chance. So we are working on both.

“Our ’26 car has been in the wind tunnel, our ’25 car, they kind of bounce back and forth. So we’re working on both.

“Then I think we’ve got to see how we start the season, how much development do we think we have left and then kind of react accordingly as to how we balance our resources.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Lando Norris

Norris quickest in extended first test after power cut disruption · F1 · RaceFans

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Lando Norris, McLaren, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test


Lando Norris set the quickest time in the opening day of testing for the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The first day of running, split into two four-hour sessions, was interrupted by over an hour due to a sudden loss of power at the track. The Bahrain International Circuit operators issued a statement saying the outage was caused by a failure in an external substation.

Norris, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and George Russell were among those whose running was interrupted by the problem. However they regained most of their lost time as the teams agreed with the FIA and Formula One Management to extend the session by an hour.

Aside from the power cut, the session ran without any significant problems. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was quickest before the lunch break, setting a 1’31.428 in his Mercedes.

When the second session began, teams were slow at first to send their cars out, and the track remained silent for around 20 minutes. McLaren were particularly slow to join in, Norris remaining in the garage for well over one-and-a-half hours after the session restarted.

The quickest times were set by the drivers who ran in the second half of the day. Russell ended the test a tenth of a second shy of Norris, with Verstappen another tenth behind. Leclerc took fourth ahead of his former team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr, now driving for Williams.

2025 Bahrain pre-season testing day one lap times

This article will be updated.

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing

F1 test halted as power failure causes blackout at Bahrain circuit · RaceFans

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The first day of testing for the new Formula 1 season was halted when a power cut hit the Bahrain International Circuit.

The electricity supply failed in the teams’ garages and elsewhere in the paddock. The circuit’s lighting system was also extinguished.

The race director red-flagged the session immediately afterwards. The FIA confirmed the action was taken in response to the blackout.

The failure struck shortly after 5pm local time. The session was scheduled to end at 7pm, with sunset due to fall at 5:37pm.

With the teams’ facilities plunged into darkness, mechanics began working by torchlight as the time until the end of the session continued to tick down.

George Russell was leaving the pits in his Mercedes when the track was suddenly plunged into darkness.

“I came out of the pits and thought it was suddenly quite dark out here,” he told Sky. “I came on the radio and said I needed to change my visor and I realised there was no floodlights on.

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“It would have been a bit hectic if this was an hour later when the sun has already set.”

A quarter of an hour after the problem struck, no update had been given on when the session would resume.

This is the second year in a row a problem has halted testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. Last year over two hours of running was lost when a drain cover came loose at turn 11, which Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc hit.

This article will be updated.

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Franco Colapinto/Jack Doohan

Speculation over Doohan’s future is “not fair”, says Alpine team boss Oakes · RaceFans

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Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes is unhappy with the speculation surrounding the future of his new driver Jack Doohan.

The 22-year-old starts his first full Formula 1 season this year, having made a one-off appearance for the team at the end of last season.

However even before Doohan’s first race, claims spread that Alpine’s executive consultant Flavio Briatore wanted to put Franco Colapinto in his seat.

Alpine has since signed Colapinto from Williams and agreed a deal with his sponsor Mercado Libre. Briatore has promoted Colapinto’s presence, sharing video of his first test behind closed doors on social media, which was not officially distributed by the team.

Oakes, who became Alpine’s team principal in the middle of last year, praised Doohan’s focus ahead of the new season amid the ensuing speculation he might be dropped before the end of it.

“I feel for him quite a lot at the moment,” Oakes told Sky. “He’s getting a bit of flak and it’s not fair.

“At the end of the day, he’s getting his debut in F1 – I mean, he’s had his debut in Abu Dhabi, but it’s his first sort of full year. And I think it’s been a quiet winter so [for] everybody, obviously, that’s been a news story. Franco, he’s a popular kid as well, so people want to see him in the car.”

Doohan drove for the team in this morning’s test at Bahrain International Circuit.

“From my side, it’s really good to have Jack with us,” said Oakes. “He’s come from our academy. He did a good job in Abu Dhabi and even this morning he hit the ground running straight away.

“So I think credit to him as well because he’s sort of just shutting all that noise out and getting on with it, which is really good.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing

Horner says F1 75 was like visiting a rival team’s stadium after Verstappen boos · RaceFans

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner joined the criticism of fans who booed his driver Max Verstappen during last week’s F1 75 launch event.

Horner, who was also booed by some in the crowd during the show – along with the sport’s governing body, the FIA – said he was disappointed the world champion was jeered by some F1 fans.

The head of the Austrian-owned, Milton Keynes-based team likened the new pre-season event in London to visiting a rival team’s stadium.

“It was a big event,” he said. “All of the teams put a lot of effort into it, which was good and interesting to see.

“Of course launching your car is a bit like launching your away strip in a home fans’ stadium. Fans will always back the teams and drivers that they want to.

“Of course we’ve been the protagonists over the years. The only disappointment I had with it was the reception to Max as a four-time world champion. That was disappointing.

“But passion in sport is always going to be there. If the launch had been in Holland, no doubt the reception would have been somewhat different.”

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Horner said Red Bull played no role in the FIA’s condemnation of the booing targeted at him and Verstappen, which they described as “tribalist.”

“They made their own comments on it,” he said. “It was nothing that we, certainly, asked for, I didn’t have any conversation with the FIA following the event. It was part of their campaign to stamp out online abuse.”

The FIA World Motor Sports Council has a meeting scheduled for today, at which they are expected to discuss the matter.

This article will be updated.

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2025 F1 season/Andrea Kimi Antonelli/f1 testing/Formula 1/Liam Lawson

Antonelli fastest, Lawson spins in first morning of test at Bahrain · RaceFans

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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test


Andrea Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on top in the morning session of the first day of testing for the 2025 season.

The 18-year-old set a best time of 1’31.428 at the Bahrain International Circuit. He was driving the team’s new W16 chassis, which turned a wheel for the first time at the track yesterday.

Antonelli, who led the drivers out when the test began, lapped 2.3 seconds off the pole position time at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Most drivers got within half a second of that time as teams made a productive start to testing, completing the first four hours of running without a single red flag interruption.

Liam Lawson suffered the biggest mishap of any driver, spinning to a halt temporarily at the exit of turn three. The new Red Bull driver had run wide onto the exit kerb where the RB21 snapped away from him. He brought it to a halt without incurring any damage.

The majority of drivers completed more than a race distance – 57 laps – at the home of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Antonelli completed the most, logging one more lap than Yuki Tsunoda in his Racing Bulls. Fernando Alonso covered the least distance of anyone for.

All 10 drivers are scheduled to hand their cars over to their team mates for this afternoon’s session.

Bahrain test day one morning lap times

Liam Lawson, Red Bull, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test
Lawson spun his Red Bull, but continued

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/RaceFans Live

Live: 2025 F1 pre-season testing day one: Bahrain · RaceFans

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George Russell, Mercedes W16 shakedown, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025


This session is live. You are not logged in, so new updates will not appear automatically. For automatic updates, log in here or register a free RaceFans account here.

Lewis Hamilton joins the track in his Ferrari – writing that is going to take some getting used to…

Antontelli is followed out by Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin SMR25.

The pit lane exit lights have gone from red to green and Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers out with a substantial testing rig on the front of his Mercedes W16, which ran for the first time yesterday.

Every driver on the grid is due to participate in today’s test.

Welcome to day one of testing for the 2025 F1 season on RaceFans Live. The test will begin at 10am local time (7am UK time).

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f1 testing/Formula 1/Pato O'Ward/Pierre Gasly

O’Ward and Gasly test Pirelli’s 2026 tyres in mule cars at Jerez · F1 · RaceFans

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McLaren and Alpine were in action at the former Spanish Grand Prix venue Jerez today as Pirelli continues its work on its new tyres for 2026.

Both teams ran ‘mule’ cars based on their 2023 chassis. Pierre Gasly drove for Alpine while McLaren gave another testing opportunity to IndyCar race-winner Pato O’Ward, who has made three appearances for them in Formula 1 practice sessions over the last three seasons.

The test followed on from last week’s running at the Circuit de Catalunya, which McLaren also participated in. At the 4.428 kilometre track, which is noted for its especially abrasive surface, F1’s official tyre supplier brought a selection of C2, C3 and C4 rubber built to the narrower specifications intended for use next year.

The two drivers completed 310 laps in total, split almost equally between them. Gasly, driving a modified A523 in a largely black livery with pink and white sponsor logos, did four more laps than O’Ward in his blank McLaren.

On a largely dry and sunny day, the Alpine driver logged the fastest time with a 1’18.092 to O’Ward’s 1’19.484. F1 last visited the circuit for a grand prix in 1997, when three drivers sensationally shared the fastest time in qualifying with matching laps of 1’21.072.

The test will continue tomorrow with Gasly’s new team mate Jack Doohan taking over in the Alpine. Mercedes will take over from McLaren with George Russell at the wheel.

Other teams who have already tested Pirelli’s prototype 2026 tyres include Aston Martin, who were first to run them last year, and Ferrari, who participated in last week’s test with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Next year’s tyres are 25mm narrower at the front than this year’s and 30mm narrower at the rear.

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Pictures: McLaren and Alpine test Pirelli tyres at Jerez

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