F1 Testing: Lando Norris fastest for McLaren on Day One in Bahrain as Lewis Hamilton makes full Ferrari debut
F1's 'big four' teams feature at the top of the opening day's timesheet in Bahrain testing; Lewis Hamilton completed 70 laps on full Ferrari test debut; watch the second day of Bahrain Testing live on Sky Sports F1 and free on the Sky Sports app from 7am on Thursday
Thursday 27 February 2025 10:01, UK
Lando Norris was fastest for McLaren on a dramatic first day of pre-season testing that was interrupted by a lengthy delay following a power cut at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Norris, the pre-season title favourite, set the pace with a best lap of 1:30.430 in the hour after running had resumed to head Mercedes' George Russell, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the top of the year's first timesheet.
Lewis Hamilton drove the new Ferrari in the morning session on his full testing debut for the team and completed 70 laps.
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The afternoon session, when all the day's quickest laps were set as the sun started to set, was barely two hours old when an external substation failure plunged large parts of the venue - including the team's garages and the track's floodlighting system - into darkness and forced race control to throw the red flag for cars to return to the garage.
The session was suspended for an hour until power was restored, with F1, the FIA and the teams soon agreeing to extend running by a further 60 minutes to make up for the lost time.
Once back on track, Norris soon hit the front from hitherto pacesetter Leclerc by almost half a second with a quick lap on the C3 medium tyres - a lap only 0.8s slower than McLaren's best in absolute low-fuel qualifying at last year's Bahrain GP.
Norris said: "It was a good, fun day on track, and we progressed through a lot of the tests that we wanted to do. I'm looking forward to pushing the car a bit more over the next couple of days."
Verstappen finished 0.2s back in the new Red Bull with Leclerc fourth and Williams' Carlos Sainz fifth.
The day's six fastest times were set by drivers who competed in the afternoon session, when conditions in an already unseasonably chilly Bahrain were slightly cooler amid fading daylight.
Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli had set the morning benchmark of 1:31.428 after an impressive 78 laps but, as the pace ramped up in the afternoon, finished almost one second adrift on the final order in seventh place.
With 88 laps completed in the elongated afternoon session, Haas new boy Esteban Ocon completed the day's most laps for a driver ahead of Antonelli and Racing Bull's Yuki Tsunoda (78 apiece).
Hamilton makes solid start in new Ferrari
Much of the build-up to the new season - which starts at the Australian GP on March 14-16, live on Sky Sports F1 - has been dominated by focus on Hamilton's move to Ferrari, the partnership that is uniting the sport's most successful-ever driver and team.
Wednesday morning was Hamilton's second time in the new SF-25 after the team's shakedown at their Fiorano test track last week but the 40-year-old's first real chance to start to put it through its pace on representative tyres.
He completed 70 laps, initially building up from short stints of five to six laps to double figures as the morning wore on. His opening session seemed to run without major setback, although he had several small moments at Turn Four where he ran slightly wide and kicked up sand.
Hamilton said: "Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we've already learned a lot.
"It's too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good and as a team we're working on the best way to optimise each run. There's more to do over the next few days to get through our programme and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now I'm looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow."
Red Bull new boy Liam Lawson featured in the morning's most significant off-course moment when he spun the RB21 coming out of Turn Three. His replacement at Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar, was Day One's other spinner with a 360-degree pirouette in the afternoon running at Turn Four.
Lawson though did set the morning's second-quickest effort after 58 laps, which became the eighth-quickest overall time of the day, ahead of Alex Albon in the Williams.
Bahrain Testing: Day One timesheet
1) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:30.430, 52 laps
2) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:30.587, 70 laps
3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:30.674, 74 laps
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:30.878, 71 laps
5) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:30.955, 68 laps
6) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:31.353, 72 laps
7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:31.428, 78 laps
8) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:31.560, 58 laps
9) Alex Albon, Williams 1:31.573, 63 laps
10) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:31.610, 78 laps
11) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:31.631, 76 laps
12) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:31.690, 59 laps
13) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:31.834, 70 laps
14) Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841, 68 laps
15) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:31.874, 46 laps
16) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:31.949, 42 laps
17) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:32.084, 66 laps
18) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:32.169, 55 laps
19) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.600, 88 laps
20) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.522, 72 laps
Sky Sports F1's live pre-season testing schedule
Wednesday February 26 - Day One
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook
Thursday February 27 - Day Two
- 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
- 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook
Friday February 28 - Day Three
- 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
- 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted's Testing Notebook
- 9pm: Ted's Development Corner
When is the first F1 race?
For the first time since 2019, the season-opener will be held in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16. The first race has switched from Bahrain to Australia due to Ramadan taking place throughout March.
There are 24 events on the 2025 F1 calendar, the same number as last year, with the season ending at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 5-7.
Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian GP on March 14-16. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime
