Mercedes' Antonelli tops day one test in Bahrain

Mercedes rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time on the opening morning of preseason testing as all ten Formula 1 teams took to the track together for the first time in 2025.

The three-day test in Bahrain is the only opportunity for teams to gather meaningful on-track data about their cars before the opening race in Australia on March 16.

As the lights went green on F1's preseason, the focus was on Lewis Hamilton, who made his official test debut with Ferrari after leaving Mercedes over the winter.

The seven-time champion has already driven three specifications of Ferrari over the past two months, including the 2025 car last week at the team's test track, but Wednesday morning represented his first opportunity to complete meaningful mileage in the new car.

After completing 70 laps, Hamilton held the fifth fastest time by the lunch break, with a gap of 0.406 seconds to his Mercedes replacement Antonelli.

However, lap times mean very little at this stage of testing with Oliver Bearman, for example, over four seconds off the pace in his Haas.

All ten teams have planned a driver switch at the hour-long lunch break, meaning Hamilton will hand over the Ferrari to Charles Leclerc in the afternoon.

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Testing regulations restrict running to one car per team at any time, which equates to a total 12 hours per teammate if the time is split evenly over the three days.

New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson was the only driver to spin in the morning session after losing control of the rear of his RB21 in Turn 2.

Aside from ruining a set of tyres as he locked all four wheels to stop the spin, no damage was done to the Red Bull and Lawson went on to set the second fastest time, 0.1 seconds off Antonelli, by the lunch break.

Each team has nominated 35 sets of tyres for the test and will be able to choose 30 sets from that nomination to use over the three days.

Morning session lap times

Antonelli - Mercedes - 1:31.428 - 78 laps
Lawson - Red Bull - 1:31.560 - 58 laps
Albon - Williams - 1:31.573 - 63 laps
Tsunoda - Racing Bulls - 1:31.610 - 79 laps
Hamilton - Ferrari - 1:31.834 - 70 laps
Doohan - Alpine - 1:31.841 - 68 laps
Alonso - Aston Martin - 1:31.874 - 46 laps
Piastri - McLaren - 1:32.084 - 67 laps
Hulkenberg - Sauber - 1:32.169 - 55 laps
Bearman - Haas - 1:35.522 - 72 laps.