By Ryan Wu
With pre-season testing complete we are now just under a week away from the season opener in Melbourne, Australia where we will see the cars at their true ability with the high speeds seen at Albert Park Circuit.
Pre-Season Testing Recap
At this stage of the season, teams are essentially playing a game of smoke and mirrors to conceal the true capabilities of their cars. As a result, it's best to take the results with a grain of salt. Teams use this period to experiment with different setups and frequently adjust engine modes to avoid revealing too much to their competitors.
This is a valuable opportunity for the six rookies to get their first real experience with the cars, as well as for drivers who have switched teams—such as Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz—to familiarize themselves with this year’s machinery. This period is crucial since testing of current car iterations is limited. Drivers can only cover up to 1,000 km in "previous cars," which are defined as models that are between two and four years old.
Testing Results
Mercedes led the testing period with 458 laps completed while Red Bull only managed 304 laps over the 3-day testing period.
In terms of overall lap time leaders Carlos Sainz set the fastest lap of the testing period with a 1m 29.348s in the Williams while Stake was the slowest at 1m 31.057s when Gabriel Bortoleto was behind the wheel.
A full breakdown of the teams and their fastest lap time and the driver that completed it can be found below:
● Williams: 1:29.348 - Carlos Sainz
● Ferrari: 1:29.379 - Lewis Hamilton
● Mercedes: 1:29.545 - George Russell
● Red Bull: 1:29.566 - Max Verstappen
● McLaren: 1:29.940 - Oscar Piastri
● Alpine: 1:30.040 - Pierre Gasly
● Aston Martin: 1:30.229 - Lance Stroll
● Racing Bulls: 1:30.497 - Yuki Tsudona
● Haas: 1:30.728 - Esteban Ocon
● Sauber: 1:31.057 - Gabriel Bortoleto
In addition, differences in 2025 vs 2024 testing can be found below:
● Alpine: -2.021s
● Williams: -1.636s
● Red Bull: -1.113s
● McLaren: -1.090s
● Haas: -0.958s
● Aston Martin: -0.930s
● Mercedes: -0.823s
● Ferrari: -0.548s
● Stake: -0.410s
● Racing Bulls: -0.278s
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