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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Max Verstappen/Red Bull

Red Bull’s new F1 car “can’t be worse than last year’s”

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Max Verstappen is confident Red Bull have made progress with their new Formula 1 car after the difficulties they encountered in some races last year.

The reigning world champion covered 400 kilometres in the new RB21 yesterday and is due to spend a full day in it tomorrow. He described his initial impressions as positive.

“So far I’ve done half a day, but I enjoyed the driving bit,” he said. “The car was quite decent to drive, to be honest.

“In terms of pace, it’s always difficult to say, but I enjoyed it, I guess that’s the most important part of it. It was a bit more predictable.”

Red Bull began last season in strong shape: Verstappen won the first race in Bahrain with 25 seconds in hand over his nearest rival from another team. The team’s performance began to dip around mid-season.

“This time last year around here, it wasn’t that bad,” he said. “But I do think that the team learned a lot from last year so now we just try to address that from last year and see how it goes when we go to Australia.”

The team won nine races last year, more than any of their rivals, but failed to continue their run of constructors’ championship successes. Although Verstappen won the drivers’ title, his team mate Sergio Perez finished eighth and scored just one-quarter of the Red Bull’s points total.

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Verstappen became frustrated with his car’s performance at some rounds, while Red Bull went 10 grands prix without scoring a win at one stage. Compared to the difficulties he encountered then, he is sure their new car will be an improvement.

“It can’t be worse than last year,” he said. “I think the direction that we are working in is good so we just need to follow that and see how much we can extract out of that.

“But at the moment it’s really early days, there’s a lot of things that we are still discussing and wanting to improve. But yesterday I enjoyed it and that’s already a big difference to last year.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Ferrari/Lewis Hamilton

Upbeat Hamilton “really enjoying” Ferrari’s new car in test · F1 · RaceFans

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Lewis Hamilton gave a positive verdict on his first two days of testing Ferrari’s new car for the upcoming season.

“I think it’s a bit early to say but I’m really enjoying the car,” he told media at the Bahrain International Circuit today.

He said he was “slowly bonding” with the car, following his first change of teams in 12 years. “Yesterday was a so-so day, it was okay. But we got through all of our run plan.

“We’re testing a bunch of things, so I’m not doing set-up changes or directing where I want the car to go. We’re just getting through the motions.

“Today was a bit more of getting to explore a bit of my interaction with my engineer. But so far I really enjoy driving this car.”

Hamilton ended today’s test second-fastest, three-hundredths of a second slower than Carlos Sainz Jnr – the driver he replaced at Ferrari, who now drives for Williams.

The former Mercedes driver says he is still adjusting to the different terminology Ferrari use to refer to some parts of their car.

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“The effect is slightly different and the names they have are different,” he said, “but ‘roll’ is still ‘roll’ and ‘anti-roll bar’ is still ‘anti-roll bar’.

“Some of the other parts of the geometry, there are different words for it. So I’ve got it on my computer and I’m studying it each day and night to make sure I understand when they talk about these different components.

“I’ve done 12 years in another place where we talked about the same thing all the time. So I was used to it, I knew exactly what they are meaning.

“But every time [Ferrari] mention [something] in a debrief I’m like: ‘What part is this? Okay, it’s this part.’ It’s part of the learning process and that’s what makes it exciting, because it’s all new. I’m loving that newness.”

Over the first two days of the test, Ferrari ran Hamilton in the first session and his team mate in Charles Leclerc the second. They will swap the running order for the final day, when Hamilton is due to complete a race and qualifying simulation.

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2025 F1 season/F1 Pictures/f1 testing

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

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George Russell, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test


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

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2025 F1 season/carlos sainz jnr/f1 testing/Formula 1

Sainz narrowly leads Ferrari pair in second day of test · F1 · RaceFans

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Carlos Sainz Jnr finished his allocation of pre-season testing for Williams by putting them on top of the times on the second day of running in Bahrain,

The driver who was fastest in pre-season testing last year, for Ferrari, posted the quickest time of the test so far. He set a 1’29.348 shortly after returning to the cockpit following the lunch break.

The two cars of his former team got within a tenth of a second of his time, Lewis Hamilton second for Ferrari ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Sainz was one of two drivers to complete the entire day solo. He logged 127 laps, the most of any driver. Liam Lawson, the other driver who had a car to himself all day, fell short of the 100-lap count after being confined to his garage towards the end of the morning session with an apparent power unit problem.

There was little to separate the Mercedes drivers, George Russell just six-thousandths of a second faster than Andrea Kimi Antonelli as they completed the top five.

Yesterday’s pace-setters McLaren were further down the order but seemed to have plenty of pace in hand. Towards the end of the afternoon session Lando Norris set a series of personal best times in the first two sectors, and the fastest time of all in the middle sector, but chose not to complete his laps. He and Oscar Piastri ended the day ahead of only the Sauber and Haas drivers.

The Haas pair occupied the bottom places on the times sheets for the second day in a row. As yesterday, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman appeared to prioritise high-fuel runs.

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Bahrain test day two times

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing

What drivers thought of F1 75 · RaceFans

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Formula 1 shouldn’t repeat its new pre-season launch event, some drivers believe, though others hailed it as a success.

The championship broke new ground by bringing all 10 teams together to reveal their liveries for the upcoming season in a two-hour event in London which was broadcast live.

Not all of the 20 drivers who participated want F1 to repeat the format next year. “It would be nice for it to be a one-off but I imagine it’s going to stay around,” said Alexander Albon.

“I don’t know what the reception was, but I think it was generally fairly positive. It’s a different environment for the drivers to be in.

“I think as an event I think they did a good job with what they had, what it was made to be. That’s about it, just a bit strange walking onto a stage.”

Some drivers who viewed the event more positively were also not convinced it should become a fixture in F1’s schedule.

“It was great,” said Lando Norris. “I think it was for the fans. I don’t know if it’s something we would do every year. Maybe do it every few years or something.”

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Each team had little more than five minutes to present their cars and speak briefly to the presenters. Norris said teams’ traditional launch events allow them greater exposure.

Lewis Hamilton, Frederic Vasseur, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, F1 75 Live, 2025
Leclerc’s reaction to F1 75 was lukewarm

“I think every team would like to do their own thing and showcase the car a bit more, talk about the car a bit more instead of just being on a stage for seven minutes and just saying ‘hi’ and ‘bye’,” he said.

“I know there’s a lot to get through in one night, but I’m sure every team wanted to a few more minutes to talk about the car and describe a few things. I’m sure the fans would rather listen to us talk more rather than just seeing the car on stage.

“So maybe change up the order if it was to be done again and listen to the drivers talk a bit more, or the team principals or whatever. But I’m sure they can make some changes next time.”

F1’s schedule expanded to a record 24 rounds last year which it is repeating this year. Charles Leclerc said the series should not keep making more demands on drivers’ time.

“It was okay, I mean, it was nice,” he said. “I wouldn’t want one to lose too many days.

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“We have very few days available at the beginning of the year, so obviously the most little time it can take, the better it is, I think, for the teams and ourselves. Also for logistics. But apart from that, I think the event was quite nice.”

However others were more impressed by the event itself. Esteban Ocon likened it to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event.

“The energy was was insane,” said the Haas driver. “Honestly, when we’re on the middle of the stage unveiling the car and the people shouting, it’s something that will forever stick in my mind. It’s quite crazy.

“I watched the UFC one night in the middle of a stadium, it’s quite similar, but we don’t really get to experience that. Apart from Mexico drivers parade, we are not actually really in the middle, it’s outside and it’s very different. But that was quite special so it was quite incredible.”

Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director George Russell is also happy to participate in the event again.

“I think it was really good for the sport,” he said. “Everything F1 is doing at the moment, it feels like it adds a lot to the sport as a whole.

“I really enjoyed it. They did a great job and happy to see it again next year or whenever they plan to do it again.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Ferrari/Formula 1/Red Bull

RB21 “subtly different”, Ferrari stand out as cars converge

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Ferrari appears to have pursued a different approach with its 2025 car than several of its rivals, says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

He described Red Bull’s new RB21 as an extensive but subtle evolution of last year’s car, which the team struggled with at times. In the fourth year of largely unchanged technical regulations, teams’ designs are increasingly similar.

“It’s clear that the cars have converged and they look very, very similar,” said Horner. “I think, probably, Ferrari is a standout as probably being a differentiator.

“But it’s inevitable that marginal gains are going to be there. Every surface on our car is different to last year, it just looks similar because it’s a similar philosophy. And you can see other cars have converged with that.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Bahrain International Circuit, 2025 pre-season test
Red Bull’s car is outwardly similar but heavily revised

Red Bull began last season as they finished the year before, winning seven of the first 10 races. However they found it increasingly difficult to develop their car further and fell to third place in the constructors’ championship behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Horner pointed out they still won the most races of any team last year, and the RB20 served as a good starting point for development.

“I think we’ve just got to improve across some of the characteristics of last year’s car,” he said. “The team [have] worked very hard on that over the over the off-season.

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“Let’s not forget we still won nine [grands prix] and four sprint races with that car last year so we had a reasonable basis from which to develop.

“But the competition is is very tight and, of course, in the last year of this set of regulations, you can see the convergence. The cars all look incredibly similar today and I think it’s going to be very, very competitive throughout the season from the first race all the way through the season.”

“We’ve had a good winter,” he added. “This car, whilst it doesn’t look a huge amount visibly different to last year’s car, is subtly different in many different areas and particularly in the areas that you can’t see.”

Red Bull do not intend to introduce any significant changes to the car before the new season begins in Australia next month.

“It’s basically the car that will start the season,” said Horner. “There may be some subtle changes introduced between now and then, but fundamentally it’s what we’ll be taking to Melbourne.”

The team’s new driver Liam Lawson had a brief spin during his stint yesterday, which Horner blamed on the blustery conditions at the track.

“The wind is pretty tricky out there and I think it just caught Liam out on the exit of turn two. We’ve seen a lot of cars having different moments as the gusts are pretty strong out there. But I think Liam’s had a good first official session for us and settled in well so far.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton leads morning of second test as rain causes more disruption · RaceFans

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Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of testing so far as Formula 1’s official pre-season running reached its halfway point in Bahrain.

However the track fell silent during scheduled running for the second day in a row, this time due to rain at the desert track.

Almost no one circulated for the best part of an hour, aside from Esteban Ocon, who completed a short run in his Haas. The team was one of only two to have selected a set of intermediate tyres, which they fitted to his car for his brief run on the damp track.

The drivers returned once the track dried out. Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg were involved in a minor incident at turn eight, the McLaren driver tapping the Sauber on its right-rear as he tried to pass, then gesturing to him afterwards. Both returned to the pits but neither appeared to suffer any lasting damage.

Hamilton chipped away at the best time, eventually leaving it at a 1’29.379 before handing his car over to team mate Charles Leclerc for the rest of the day’s running again. His best effort was over half a second faster than the quickest time set at this test last, also by Ferrari, in the hands of his predecessor Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Unlike yesterday, two drivers were scheduled to spend the entire day in their cars: Sainz at Williams and Liam Lawson at Red Bull. However the latter was confined to his garage after just 28 laps with an apparent power unit problem.

Despite the interruption caused by the rain, two drivers were able to complete more than a race distance in the morning, George Russell logging the most laps with 71. He, Ocon and Piastri joined in a scheduled test of the Virtual Safety Car, suspended start and race start procedures at the end of the session.

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2025 Bahrain pre-season test day two morning result

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/Lando Norris/McLaren

Norris pleased with ‘normal’ start to test after ‘issues in last years’ · RaceFans

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Lando Norris was more pleased with his trouble-free start to testing yesterday than the fact he set the fastest time.

The McLaren driver set a best lap of 1’30.430 at the Bahrain International Circuit yesterday. But after a less-than-smooth start to recent seasons, Norris was relieved the team avoided any significant problems.

“The car was feeling like last year, which is a good start,” he told the official F1 channel. “It’s a good thing.

“We’ve had our fair share of issues over the last few years coming to Bahrain and not starting off on the right foot, but things just feel normal, which is a good start.”

McLaren were compromised by braking problems on their car at the beginning of 2022, and began the following season well off the pace. They were more competitive at the start of last year, but were not in contention for victories until they introduced their first significant upgrade at the sixth round.

Despite ending last season in strong shape and winning the constructors’ championship, McLaren have been ambitious with the changes to their car for this year. Norris is encouraged by the early signs from it.

“A lot of stuff has changed on the car, so for us just to go out and check everything, make sure things aren’t falling off and things are working as they’re meant to, is is a good start to the test,” he said.

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“It really doesn’t matter if we’re first or last on day one. That only matters in Australia, but for now, it is just a nice start to the test.”

Norris sat out almost two hours of yesterday’s test after the midday break, before it was interrupted by a power cut. He was able to reclaim some of his lost running after the session was extended by an hour.

He was unconcerned by the lost running earlier in the test. “It’s just that it takes about 20 minutes or something for a rear wing change and sometimes it’s ‘floor off’ and ‘floor on’,” he explained. “You’re just double-checking everything.

“So it’s normal stuff, it’s just checking things. Sometimes that takes a bit more time in the garage to do, but all good so far.”

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/George Russell/Mercedes

New Mercedes seems more drive-able than problematic 2024 car

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Mercedes appears to have addressed the unwelcome characteristics which made last year’s car so unpredictable to drive, says George Russell.

The team won four races last year with its W15, which thrived in certain conditions, but Russell and former team mate Lewis Hamilton were often puzzled by sudden swings in its balance.

“It was clear last year we struggled a lot in the hot races and we had a lot of oversteer in the car when the track was very hot,” said Russell. “This is something we’ve tried to dial out [with the W16].

“Of course, for everybody, it’s trickier when it gets hot. But it was clear with our performance that we really went backwards.

“Also, it was on a knife’s edge. You saw us all have a few crashes last year: You go outside of the window and you were in the wall.

“So we’ve put a lot of focus on making the car more drive-able, more intuitive to drive. And I think from what we’ve seen so far, it seems to be doing that.”

However Russell pointed out the weather in Bahrain has been cooler and windier than normal. He said the team will have to carefully model the W16’s behaviour in more typical conditions to ensure it performs as desired everywhere.

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“It’s very important to take the data away from this week and take into consideration the conditions that we’ve got,” he said. “But you’ve also got to try and think what it could have been if the temperature was 20 degrees hotter, if the wind was 180 degrees different.

“That’s what we use the simulator for because it’s all well and good saying the car feels great here in Bahrain [at] 15 degrees [Celsius]. We’re never going to race in Bahrain in 15 degrees and the wind probably as strong as it is today.

“So that’s why I think the simulator correlation is really, really important and ensure you go through that sweep of conditions of wind to really try and understand what limitations you’re probably going to expect in a different circumstance.”

Russell was speaking between his first two runs in the W16 in Mercedes’ shakedown test and yesterday afternoon’s running at the Bahrain International Circuit.

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2025 F1 season/f1 testing/RaceFans Live

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

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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.

Surprisingly, rain was forecast for this session and there are a few drops falling as the drivers join the track.

The pit exit light has turned green and we have the first cars on-track already.

The following drivers will be in action this morning: Lewis Hamilton, Liam Lawson, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Nico Hulkenberg.

Welcome to day two 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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