The final day of 2025 F1 Testing is officially beginning under the shining Bahrain sun. Weather conditions are, in fact, the opposite of yesterday, during which rain hindered the potential of some drivers’ track time.
Hour 1
Verstappen and Hadjar were the first drivers out on track. Alonso returned to the pits shortly after and stopped in the pits, with his Aston Martin crew having to wheel him back in. Lance Stroll, supposed to be behind the wheel of the AMR25, will not take part in this session. In fact, because of a small illness Alonso will be replacing him. A cooling issue prevented the Spaniard from exiting the pit area. Thus, the former Ferrari driver had to stop to get it fixed.
Unlike the previous days, the Ferrari driver is not testing different aerodynamic configuration, not sporting aero rakes on his SF-25.
Ten minutes in the session, Leclerc leads the 2025 F1 Testing AM session from Antonelli and Doohan in 1:31.340s. The Monegasque and the Italian are now both on the C3 tyre, and the Mercedes driver improves the best early benchmark to 1:31.168s. On the other hand, the Alpine driver has opted for a longer run on hards.
An eventful beginning
Twenty minutes into the session, only Williams’ Albon is on track
Leclerc ran wide into the gravel at the exit of Turn 4, but didn’t damage his car. He does return at the top of the timings with the first 1:30s of the day in 1:30.811s.
A part of Bearman’s engine cover has come off, forcing the Haas driver to stop and slowly make his way to the pits. A brief yellow flag was issued in order to safely recover and remove from the track the bit of debris left by the Haas.
Bortoleto is having a quiet day for Sauber, logging in plenty of consistent laps without spinning out. He only made a small mistake at Turn 6, but ran wide on the exit zone. Reigning champion Max Verstappen is the latest to improve, moving up to provisional P4.
Alonso exits on track, but immediately returns to the pits after an out lap. His earlier cooling issue appears to not have been solved.
Ferrari’s mechanics are working on the balance of Leclerc’s braking system. In the meantime, Hadjar is sporting flow wiz at the bottom of his Racing Bulls car.
Bortoleto, the only driver now on track at the end of today’s first hour of testing, has another off track small excursion, without serious consequences for his C45. Meanwhile, Racing Bulls changes floor configuration on Hadjar’s challenger.
Norris sets his first timed lap of the day almost an hour late compared to his colleagues, having completed 13 installation laps to collect data for his team.
Hour 2
After an hour of track time Leclerc still leads from Antonelli and Verstappen, with only Bortoleto and Norris out on track as the wind is picking up. The duo is then joined by Hadjar and Albon. Doohan resumed his long run ten minutes later.
Norris and Leclerc both had a moment: the McLaren driver ran wide at Turn 4, while the Ferrari at the exit of Turn 13. Doohan and Norris almost collided at the exit of Turn 9, where the rookie Australian struggled at the tough braking zone but managed to not hit the McLaren driver.
With 2:30 hours to go, the top three drivers is the same, whereas Doohan is the drive who has completed the highest number of laps with 26, followed by fellow rookie colleague Hadjar with 23.
Wind for days
Norris had another moment. During his out lap he spun out and stopped on track at the same spot at the end of Turn 4 as before, issuing the first yellow flag of the day. He suffered from a big snap which almost had him hit the wall.
Bortoleto’s Sauber challenger is undergoing massive reworks in the pits, with the Brazilian unable to complete more than a couple installation laps at the same time.
Wind is picking up and affecting on track drivers performances. First, Norris was shaken at the end of Turn 13. Later on, it was Bearman and Albon’s turn to suffer from the wind speed. The Haas driver is finally able to resume his session with 2:10h to go following the disrobing of his car.
Norris finally has a clean lap, which allows him to bolt up to P3 in the standings, 0.132s off Leclerc’s best effort.
A chair was blown towards the track by the strong gusts of wind. Thus, to ensure its safe recovery the stewards waved yellow flags at the spot, signalling the danger.
Hour 3
With two hours left of track time Antonelli resumes his session, with Verstappen joining the party a few minutes later as well.
Alonso’s AMR25 is now being inspected, with particular attention given to its floor. The Silverstone based team has also confirmed that his teammate Lance Stroll is now feeling better and will be able to get behind the wheel of the car for the afternoon session.
Leclerc is completing an higher speed long simulation run, logging in a steady stream of times. Verstappen jumps up to P4 following a quick front nose change, but immediately returns to the pits.
Antonelli tried to improve Leclerc’s early benchmark but after a fastest first sector he is unable to keep improving. Verstappen’s RB21 stops while exiting the pit area.
Race simulations
With 1:30H left in the 2025 F1 Testing session, Hadjar and Albon resume their long runs. Doohan as well returned on track. Works are still undergoing at Haas and Aston Martin, with the former still struggling with the engine cover and the latter with the cooling system.
The young Brit is then able to resume his race simulation, and starts his run with a practise start, while Verstappen picks up for fresh tyres. Haas complete a practise pit stop on Bearman’s challenger as well, while Leclerc opts for a refuel as well.
Norris’s McLaren is really struggling with grip in the hot and windy track conditions. In fact, the British driver on hards almost ran wide off track twice in the same lap, at Turn 4 and 13. Doohan tested different aerodynamic setup using flow wiz.
McLaren is not the only team struggling with understeer, however. Leclerc and Verstappen have both encountered issues with keeping their challengers on track in the peculiar climate conditions, with the exit of Turn 4 and 13 the spots where the wind blows harder.
Hour 4
Alonso and Verstappen are both back in the pits at the beginning of the final hour of the 2025 F1 Testing AM session. Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Albon, Hadjar and Bearman are out. Norris’s troubles persist, as he keeps struggling to remain within the track limits.
Antonelli overtakes Albon. With 46 minutes left in the session, the first red flag of the day came out because of debris on track. Particularly there was glass on the pit straight from the start/finish box. The top three remains the same set earlier, with Leclerc leading from Antonelli 0.077s behind and Norris.
Bearman on his long run is focusing on smooth driving, always signing laps far off the benchmark of the day as per his team’s instructions. Doohan is the latest driver having an hard time while keeping his Alpine car on track because of the wind spurs.
Ferrari tests out a front wing change in the final moments of the session, as well as Sauber. Antonelli tested out following another driver again after his previous overtake instance with Albon. This time around, the Italian remained in Leclerc’s dirty air for a couple of laps, while Alonso tests a different aero configuration on hards.
In the final 5 minutes a Virtual Safety Car was issued to be tested. A Safety Car and a Red Flag were up next as all the drivers retuned to the pits. Only Hadjar and Bortoleto opted to take part in the standing start simulation.
Leclerc’s early effort remains the best time of the day so far, placing him ahead of a consistent Antonelli and a Norris affected by the strong wind.
Hadjar completed the most laps in this 2025 F1 Testing session with 73, ahead of Leclerc’s 66 and Antonelli and Doohan’s 61.
