The only official Formula 1 test session prior to the Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 75th season of motor racing’s blue riband category, got underway today at the Sakhir circuit.

All 20 drivers were out on track for the opening day, providing a first taste of the show that will be on offer from the Melbourne event onwards. They faced what, for Bahrain, were rather unusual weather conditions, not just because the actual air temperature hovered around the 15 °C mark for most of the day, but because of the wind chill factor making it feel considerably colder, thanks to gusts from the north which also blew sand onto the track. On the tyre front, the C3 saw the most usage, completing over three quarters of the total number of laps (1017 out of 1326, 76.7%). Two other compounds out of the possible six were also used: the C2 (279 laps, 21.04%) and the C1 (30, 2.26%), the latter only by Lando Norris (McLaren) and France’s Pierre Gasly (Alpine). These three compounds are actually the ones that will be available for the Grand Prix to be held at this circuit from 11 to 13 April.

As was the case in the second part of last season, the field all looked very evenly matched today with the top six on the time sheet coming from six different teams. Norris was quickest on a set of new C3s in 1’30”430, nine tenths quicker than the best time set on the first day of this test in 2024 by Max Verstappen (Red Bull), a 1’31”344. Today, the Dutch four-time world champion was third quickest (1’30”674) behind George Russell who posted a 1’30”587 in the Mercedes, both these times set on the C3 compound. Behind this trio came two drivers who were team-mates last year, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz: Ferrari’s Monegasque driver was fourth in 1’30”878, while the Spaniard, now with Williams, was fifth in 1’30”995. Rounding off the top six was Gasly with a best time of 1’31”353. The driver who did the most laps today was France’s Esteban Ocon (Haas, 88). The longest stint came courtesy of Alpine’s Australian driver Jack Doohan (24 laps on a set of C2s), while the longest run on the C3 was completed by Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda who did 23 laps in the Racing Bulls. The distance prize on the C1 goes to Norris with 17 laps.

The track was open for an hour longer than planned as the session had to be red flagged because of a power blackout that left the entire circuit facility without any electricity for almost an hour. The FIA, F1 and the teams all agreed to make up the lost time so that the chequered flag finally fell at 20.00 local time. The second day of testing gets underway at 10.00 local time, ending at 19.00, with a compulsory break from 14.00 to 15.00.