Formula 1 fans from the kingdom and across the world will be rolling into the Bahrain International Circuit today and tomorrow for the second and final pre-season test before this year’s championship gets underway, writes Naman Arora. Here are the key takeaways from last week’s testing and all you need to know as teams make their way to the circuit armed with reams of data, as well as bruised egos in some garages, and quiet confidence in others.

 

Formula 1 fans from the kingdom and across the world will be rolling into the Bahrain International Circuit today and tomorrow for the second and final pre-season test before this year’s championship gets underway, writes Naman Arora. Here are the key takeaways from last week’s testing and all you need to know as teams make their way to the circuit armed with reams of data, as well as bruised egos in some garages, and quiet confidence in others.

 

Red Bull Power

The standout talking point was the performance of Red Bull Racing’s new Ford-backed powertrain.

Rivals noticed its ability to deploy energy for longer on the straights, giving it a visible edge in top-end speed.

George Russell went so far as to describe Red Bull’s advantage as ‘scary’, while GPS traces reportedly backed that up.

Reliability has also been impressive for a brand-new unit.

It is still testing, but early signs suggest Red Bull may already have a technical reference point for the rest of the grid.

 

Silver Arrows off-centre

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas team topped the outright times on the final day of last week’s testing thanks to Kimi Antonelli, yet paradoxically logged the second-lowest lap count.

Suspension issues and an engine anomaly disrupted their first two days before a strong recovery on Day 3.

The raw pace is clearly there, but the car proved harder to keep in its ‘happy window’ in Bahrain’s warmer conditions compared with Barcelona. The Silver Arrows enter Test 2 quick, but still searching for consistency.


Ferrari: fasting or fast?

The team in red kept performance talk to a minimum, instead stressing data collection.

Behind the scenes, however, they looked composed.

Their mileage was among the best, reliability solid, and race starts particularly sharp thanks to minimal turbo lag.

Charles Leclerc remains cautious publicly, but McLaren boss Andrea Stella has already placed Ferrari at the top of his early pecking order alongside Mercedes.

 

McLaren holding back?

Despite being double reigning world champions, the Bahrain-owned McLaren team adopted a deliberately low-key approach.

They matched Williams Racing for the highest mileage of the test (422 laps), a huge tick for reliability on an entirely new car concept.

Oscar Piastri set their quickest time, while Lando Norris spoke positively about the learning curve.

Yet Stella has openly pointed to Ferrari and Mercedes as the early benchmarks.

The implication is that McLaren is focused on fundamentals first.

Test 2 should reveal whether they now pivot to performance runs, or whether they genuinely trail their rivals on pace.

 

Midfield Mayhem

The toughest week belonged to Aston Martin.

Despite the arrival of design legend Adrian Newey, they recorded the fewest laps and admitted they are firmly on the back foot, compounded by a new Honda engine programme and in-house gearbox development.

In contrast, Williams rebounded strongly after missing Barcelona, piling on mileage to stabilise their campaign.

Newcomers Cadillac also earned respect with more than 1,700 kilometres completed, efficient problem-solving, and early race simulations, an impressive foundation for a debut season.

With one test left before Australia, the gloves are finally expected to come off.

For fans heading trackside this weekend, the story is no longer about who can run, but who can run fast, consistently, and with confidence.