Antonelli tops first morning of pre-season testing in Bahrain

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli set the pace during the first session of 2025 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, leading the way from Red Bull’s Liam Lawson.

All 10 teams have arrived in the Sakhir desert for three days of running in the build-up to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, gathering valuable data about their new machines.

LIVE COVERAGE: All the action from Day 1 of 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain

With each squad running one car, and the day split into morning and afternoon sessions, only half of the 20 drivers appeared in Wednesday’s initial outing.

One of several rookies on the ’25 grid, Antonelli was the first to head out on track at 1000 local time, sporting some huge aero rake measurement devices on his Mercedes.

Other newcomers in action were Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who both made substitute appearances last season, while Lawson completed his first official laps as a fully-fledged Red Bull racer.

However, the talk of the paddock before the green light switched on at the end of the pit lane was Lewis Hamilton, who completed the next step in his monumental Ferrari move.

IN PHOTOS: Every 2025 F1 car on track during pre-season testing in Bahrain

As the morning progressed and various run plans played out on different tyres and fuel loads, Antonelli wound up with the quickest time – having clocked a 1m 31.428s on medium rubber.

Lawson was just over a tenth adrift in the newly-launched RB21, despite a wild moment and half-spin through Turn 2, with Alex Albon putting his Williams third and Yuki Tsunoda placing fourth for Racing Bulls.

Hamilton attracted plenty of attention as he strolled through the paddock in Ferrari gear and took to the track in the SF-25, working his way down to a time some four-tenths slower than the man who took his place at Mercedes.

After a substitute appearance at last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi, Doohan kicked off his preparations as a full-time Alpine driver en route to sixth position, just ahead of Aston Martin’s two-time World Champion, Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was one of only two drivers, along with Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who ended the morning without a full race distance (57 laps) to their name.

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Hulkenberg was ninth when the chequered flag dropped, slotting between the other two names in action – McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and the aforementioned Bearman.

Teams will have an hour to break for lunch and run through the data before the afternoon session gets under way at 1500 local time, with driver changes taking place up and down the pit lane.