2025 F1 Pre-Season Test Day 2: Key Takeaways
The second day of the F1 pre-season test is done and dusted, and we have Carlos Sainz on top of the timesheets. With a lap time that was only a couple of tenths off the pole position time from Max Verstappen in the Bahrain GP last season, the Williams driver impressed everyone who was keeping an eye on what he was doing on the track.
On a day where we had Red Bull facing a few issues early and rain making an appearance a few times, Lewis Hamilton impressed with a strong lap time that was less than a tenth off Carlos Sainz's benchmark. The 7x world champion had his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc also a few hundredths behind him as well.
With the second day of the 2025 F1 pre-season test coming to an end, what did we learn? Let's take a look.
2025 F1 Pre-Season Test Day 2: What did we learn?
#1 Lewis Hamilton seems more at home now at Ferrari
If the first day was a bit iffy for Lewis Hamilton, the second day was far more seamless. The driver looked comfortable in the car, and the assumption that the team was still ironing out the wrinkles during his stint on the first day was bang on.
At the end of the day, Hamilton said he felt more at home now at Ferrari, and you can't blame him as he put together a ridiculously impressive lap time that was faster than what he mustered in a Mercedes last F1 season. The car's good, and the driver seems comfortable. Do not rule out the 7x F1 champion just yet.
#2 McLaren is still ironing out the wrinkles
The Woking-based squad has had a stop-start run in the pre-season test. But when it has been on track, the car has been brilliant. There are a few wrinkles that the team seemingly needs to iron out by the looks of it, but if we look at the entire day, the car seems strong.
The long run turned heads, and in the eyes of many, McLaren is the car to beat at the start of the season.
#3 The new Red Bull seems friendlier to the drivers
What has caught the eye of many is the rather less volatile nature of the Red Bull, even with Liam Lawson onboard. The car is more benign in that sense, and that is something that the team strived for going into the 2025 F1 season. Where the Austrian team is at the moment is hard to place, obviously, but it does appear that the foundations are decent enough.
It will be interesting to see what the upgrades are that the team is bringing on Friday, but if they bring some extra, Max Verstappen for sure would not be complaining.
#4 Carlos Sainz's time hints at shrinkage of the fieldspread
Carlos Sainz has gone almost a second quicker than the lap time that Alex Albon could do in a Williams in the 2024 F1 Bahrain GP qualifying. That's a statement of intent from the team, but it's also a sign that the grid is shrinking in terms of performance gaps.
The teams that were in the midfield are now capable enough of doing lap times that the cars at the front were doing in 2024, and that's a sign of progress from the Grove-based squad. On the last day, there would be more that would be coming our way in terms of performance runs from the rest of the teams, but at least for now, it does appear that the gap has shrunk even if it has not completely extinguished for now.
#5 Handle the long-run data with caution
There was a lot of premature jumping to conclusions, which was evident during the broadcast as well as in general as the teams did the long runs. If we go just by long runs, then McLaren holds a definitive advantage while Ferrari might be struggling. There were even moments when Mercedes was struggling with tire wear as well.
The reality is that there are still far too many variables at play here. The biggest of them is the conditions in which these cars are running for now. The temperatures and the conditions are not ideal, and that's something we need to keep in mind before taking any call.
Hence, the pecking order could see McLaren being potentially the F1 frontrunner, but there's still a day left, and the Bahrain International Circuit is only one type of circuit; there are far too many others where things could be completely different.