F1 2025 pre-season testing preview

It’s always an exciting week when we prepare to see the new season’s cars out on the track for the first time in an official capacity, but this year’s pre-season testing feels a little different than perhaps we’re used to, mainly because the cars themselves haven’t changed an awful lot.

We’re entering the final season of the current 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid engine formula that has remained virtually unchanged since 2014, and with power unit development frozen since 2022, the teams know more or less everything there is to know about the hot bits under the bodywork. We certainly aren’t expecting any surprises when it comes to reliability.

There has been some movement when it comes to aerodynamic design, most dramatically from Ferrari, who Frederic Vasseur says has developed a “completely new” car, but we are once again in the midst of a radical regulations revamp for 2026, so the class of 2025 is for the most part at least considered an evolution on last year.

That said, there’s still plenty of look forward to during three full days of testing this week, as we prepare to see six debutants get their full-time F1 careers underway, McLaren take the first steps on its first Constructors’ Championship defence since 2000, and Lewis Hamilton officially begin his career as a Ferrari driver.

Lewis Hamilton’s first official session as a Ferrari driver

It’s impossible to know for sure exactly why Lewis Hamilton decided now was the time to make the switch to Ferrari. He has struggled at Mercedes in recent seasons, while his lifelong desire to one day don the scarlet of Ferrari has been no secret, but what else does he know that we don’t? Well, Ferrari’s daring design choice for this season could be one of the factors at play.

A switch to pull-rod front suspension (a move that aligns the team with McLaren and Red Bull) is no small adjustment, and the rest of the car looks to have undergone some fairly major changes, too. The wheelbase has been stretched to make room for new reprofiled sidepods, while the rear suspension has also been tweaked to accommodate a new gearbox and diffuser design. Ferrari has gone all in to bring Hamilton and his team-mate Charles Leclerc a car capable of winning the World Championship.

But how will Hamilton fare? That’s possibly the biggest question ahead of testing. He says he’s re-energised, motivated and excited by his new challenge, and there’s no reason to doubt that. He’s now into his 40s, so there’s no question whether he has the experience, but does he still have the raw speed to overcome his ferociously quick team-mate?

We may get an indication during testing, though there’s every chance we’ll have to wait until the final laps of qualifying to see exactly how quick Hamilton is in red.

Fresh starts for Antonelli, Lawson, Hadjar, Doohan, Bearman, Bortoletto

The other big story this week will be the performance of Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes. Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s rise to F1 has been almost as meteoric as his predecessor’s. A single season in Formula 2, which included a stunning feature race victory in Hungary, was enough to convince Toto Wolff that he was worthy of the vacant Mercedes seat.

He backed that up by demonstrating incredible pace during a very short appearance in Practice for the Italian Grand Prix. He carried substantially more speed through the second Lesmo and Ascari Chicane than anyone else, but in doing so overheated his tyres and found the wall at the Parabolica. The problem of slowing a driver down, Wolff said, was a good problem to have.

Antonelli is going to be under the spotlight in 2025, and pre-season testing will be the first opportunity to see him in his new capacity as an F1 driver.

He’ll be joined by fellow F2 graduates Isack Hadjar and Champion Gabriel Bortoletto, while Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman also enter the season as F1 drivers for the first time. Each will be keen to show from minute one that they deserve their place on the grid.

Lawson will be under immense pressure, as he looks to succeed where Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Pérez could not as team-mate to Max Verstappen. The Dutchman enters the 2025 campaign as a four-time World Champion, but Doohan already has a target on his back following the arrival of Franco Colapinto, who impressed during his short spell with Williams last season, as Alpine’s reserve driver for 2025.

Hadjar and Bortoletto will both be given time and space to grow into their respective F1 careers with Racing Bulls and Sauber, while Bearman’s point scoring cameos last season proved he has what it takes to succeed at Haas.

McLaren begins its title defence

It’s been 25 years since McLaren arrived at pre-season testing as the reigning Constructors’ Champions. Back then it was Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard setting out for pre-season testing, now in 2025, it’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who became arguably the best driver pairing on the grid through 2024.

The team has been on the quite the rollercoaster over the past decade since an ill-fated partnership with Honda put them in a seemingly irreversible decline. Slowly but surely, however, with Zak Brown at the helm, McLaren have clawed their way back to complete a remarkable turnaround last season and become Champions once again.

But with that label comes the pressure of trying to retain it, and with two drivers each hell bent on reaching for personal honours in 2025, that may be less than straight forward. Both Norris and Piastri have so far played well together, but that will all change if the MCL39 emerges as the fastest car on the grid through testing. 

Will the pecking order for 2025 be revealed?

But how much will we really find out this week? Chances are there will be as many questions come Friday evening as there are answers, but we will at least get the telltale reactions of drivers as they get their first true experience of their new cars.

A smile, or even a twinkle in the eye, is incredibly difficult to disguise and we’ll be keeping a close watch to discern any inkling we can about who looks good, and who’s in trouble.

Not that that will even be the whole story once the season gets underway. Even as Red Bull lost its substantial performance advantage through the 2024 season, Verstappen still managed to see off the charge of Norris to claim his fourth successive title, so whose to say he won’t charge on to win a fifth crown?

We are hugely optimistic, though, that this season of F1 is set to be one of the closest and most competitive in the sport’s history. Last season was one of the best ever, and with teams only likely to get closer together as they develop their cars through the winter and into next season, 2025 promises to see more drivers fighting for victories than ever before.

Will it be McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, or perhaps someone else who comes out on top when we go racing in Melbourne? Pre-season testing will probably give us absolutely no indication whatsoever…

Could this be the most reliable pre-season test ever?

We should at least get plenty of action on track during all three days, as the days of laughable reliability are long in the past, for now. Remember those early days of the hybrid era, when Red Bull could barely make it out of the pitlane before the engine broke, again?

Such has been the progress of all ten teams in F1, these hugely expensive and incredibly complex hybrid power units are now virtually bombproof in 2025. This could be a pre-season test where power-unit reliability at least is a non-issue, so teams will be able to focus on honing their performance rather than spending hours in the garage fixing things. Make the most of that before a brand-new set of engine regs lands for 2026.

F1 pre-season testing gets underway on Wednesday 26^th February until Friday 28^th. All three days will be split into two four-hour sessions, beginning at 07:00 and 12:00 UK time.

Main image courtesy of Motorsport Images.