McLaren’s MCL39 looks to be the car to beat to start the F1 2025 season, even if it looks a little reluctant at times…

Braving the chilly conditions during Thursday afternoon’s four-hour testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit, I threw on my painfully thin hoodie jumper and headed out trackside to observe the 10 brand-new F1 cars up close.

F1 2025 does looks set to be nail-bitingly close

Initially taking position at the exit of Turn 2, which offers a nice view of the cars under heavy braking into the tight hairpin at Turn 1 before the tight squeeze under full throttle through Turn 2 before straightening through 3, I spent about half an hour watching the cars pounding around during what turned out to be decently long stints for some of the expected frontrunners.

Heading up to an elevated rocky area in the centre of the track, it offered a great view of the medium to high-speed flicks through Turns 6 and 7, the dive down into the tighter Turn 8, and the climb up the hill before the dropping left-hander into Turn 10.

Last year, this section provided clear indications as to whose car appeared hooked up and whose wasn’t (Sauber), but the picture isn’t quite as clear this year.

In the fourth year of the regulations, it appears all of the teams have got a firm handle on how to exploit the full potential of the technical limits and, as a result, there was no car that looked particularly nasty to drive.

In fact, every car looked malleable and pleasant, but there were still some little hints to differentiate something of a pecking order – although this is more based on the availability of consistent behaviour rather than any car’s outright ability.

While far from visibly as wayward as last year, the Sauber still appeared to be the least comfortable and consistent, with regular wriggles from the rear upon applying the throttle out of Turn 8.

There was also some visible judder across the front axle through the exit of Turn 2 as directional input was applied along with full throttle – judder that was also quite visible through the same corner on the Racing Bulls machine.

It was the expected frontrunning machines that caught the eye, however. The Ferrari was able to keep a tighter line through Turns 1 and 8 than the McLaren, while the Mercedes’ rapid change of direction through Turns 6 and 7 was notable.

What was apparent from watching the McLaren was that the front end turn-in was noticeably earlier than the others for Turn 8, meaning Lando Norris kept ending up riding the exit kerb earlier than others – meaning it appeared to the naked eye that Norris wasn’t enjoying the same confidence as, say, the Ferrari.

This looked slower to the naked eye, but wasn’t borne out by the lap times – Norris’ race simulation saw him consistently plugging away in the 1:32s. By contrast, the Ferrari – which appeared to handle Turn 8 with more sharpness as Charles Leclerc set up a later entry, was usually in the high 1:33s or early 1:34s, although was on a step harder tyre compound.

Red Bull’s RB21 and Mercedes’ W16 also had little to differentiate them – both cars appeared strong with competent changes of direction, reliably consistent traction, and the ability to tuck into the apex of the tricky Turn 10 lap after lap.

Obviously, this time spent trackside only offered a small snapshot in time with no knowledge of fuel loads or run plans, but the emergence of the long run data showed Norris enjoyed an average of a half a second advantage over Leclerc and a few hundredths more over Antonelli during these race simulations across the tyre range.

Having enjoyed the relative humdrum of race simulations, I also took the time to head out during the Friday evening running as the C4 tyres began to appear and the focus changed more to unleashing the potential of the machines.

Surprisingly, the McLaren still appeared reluctant through Turn 8 with Oscar Piastri initially taking the line most commonly used but, as his stint wore on, he switched to the earlier turn-in adopted by Norris on the previous day.

Red Bull and Mercedes appeared consistent through the range of corners I observed them at over extended periods of time, with the Red Bull perhaps a smidge tidier on exits. Ferrari’s SF-25 looked less well-behaved, with Lewis Hamilton unable to achieve the same level of consistency with his lines or traction application.

The opposite can be said of Alpine, Haas, and Williams –  each of whom appears to have created well-balanced and responsive machines.

F1 Testing 2025: What is the pecking order?

While plodding the paddock throughout Friday, I took the opportunity to speak with personnel from the teams to try getting a handle on whether their impressions – which would be far more data-based than my own – corresponded.

What quickly became evident is that there is a paddock-wide belief that it’s McLaren who have the car to beat to start the season – even if the handling of the car isn’t quite where the drivers want it to be just yet.

Red Bull look to have got on top of the handling and balance issues of last year, but the RB21 looks set to start in a chasing position, along with Mercedes.

The consensus around Ferrari is that the switch from push-rod to pull-rod suspension is something of a head-scratcher, given the strong position and relentless performance Ferrari ended the 2024 season in.

The consequence of the changes to the Ferrari design concept appears to have had something of a knock on the relative competitiveness of the car, but the potential unlocked for a higher performance ceiling may be the trade-off.

Behind Ferrari, the majority seem to agree it’s Alpine, although Williams also appear to have joined in the fight to be best of the rest – tying in with Andrea Stella’s Thursday comments that there may be as many as six or seven teams in the mix, although Carlos Sainz was at pains to downplay any potential leap forward by Williams when he spoke to media on Friday.

Certainly, Williams appears keen to temper expectation but the car does look to be a nicely-balanced and competent machine out on track.

Fernando Alonso also spoke to media on Friday and didn’t appear full of confidence that the team has made a big step forward, although said there has been an improvement in driveability compared to 2024.

Explaining that the car, aside from external surfaces, is fundamentally the same as what ended 2024, he said, “I think we arrived at a point in the development of the car that is quite tricky to add downforce without adding some difficulty on driving the car. But we are quite okay with the correlation.”

The Aston Martin looked particularly inconsistent on track, although the bulk of Friday viewing of Aston Martin was with an unwell Lance Stroll behind the wheel, with the rear, in particular, eager to step out under traction.

If I had to try pulling together a pecking order of the 10 teams based on just the external visual from watching, this is my prediction of what looks to be an incredibly close field.

1.⁠ ⁠McLaren
2.⁠ ⁠Red Bull/Mercedes
4.⁠ ⁠Ferrari
5.⁠ ⁠Alpine
6.⁠ ⁠Williams/Haas/Racing Bulls
9.⁠ ⁠Aston Martin
10.⁠ ⁠Sauber

F1 Testing 2025: What did the teams have to say?

McLaren’s Andrea Stella admitted that there is some rear instability present on the MCL39 – but it’s worth remembering that, even with last year’s championship-winning car, the Bahrain Circuit was not a strong one for the Woking squad.

This would suggest McLaren has made a major leap forward compared to this point last season, with Stella pleased the car has adapted to the requirements of the track. But the Spaniard also explained that the uniquely cold temperatures in Bahrain, particularly felt in the first two days, may be masking some issues, given their lack of representativeness for the expected conditions of the race in April.

He also suggested that the competitive order may expand to include more teams than just the expected.

“My take so far is that I was thinking, before coming here, that in the past, we used to talk about the top three. Then, thankfully, McLaren has added, now we have the top four,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, on Thursday.

“But, perhaps this year, we might have to adapt our language again, which would be great for Formula 1 and then maybe the top five or the top six. So, we will see. Certainly, there seem to be a few quick cars out there.”

Norris’ long-run pace was the eye-catching performance of the second day, but what was also suggested by the long-run data is that Red Bull appears to have addressed some of the tyre degradation issues it suffered last season.

Considering Max Verstappen won the Drivers’ Championship in a car that he couldn’t hide his dislike for, the reigning World Champion’s body language suggests a big improvement over the winter despite the visually similar RB21.

“The car was quite decent to drive, to be honest,” he told media in the F1 press conference in Bahrain on Thursday.

“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.

“But, around this time last year, also around here, it wasn’t that bad, 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 as well, a completely different track. But so far, I’ve been enjoying it.”

Both Ferrari and Mercedes seem a little cautious, with Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur explaining that the aim of the team’s running has been primarily focused on reliability.

Mercedes’ Toto Wolff has said the new W16 appears to be a “tiny step ahead” on giving its drivers confidence compared to last season, while he also highlighted the strength of Norris’ race simulation on the C2 tyre on the morning of the second test, labelling it as being on a “different planet”, suggesting that – despite the car being visibly less pleasant to drive from trackside – the MCL39 might be the class of the field to start the season.

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