“Based on our experience from last year and with the information gathered during the development phase of the new compounds, we wanted to go in this direction, to give the teams and drivers a wider range of strategy options,” explained Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola. “In 2024, 18 of the 20 drivers had started on the Medium, namely the C3 and an early neutralisation in the race pushed 14 of those to switch immediately to the C2, which was then the Hard, keeping it all the way to the end. With a softer trio, we believe this can lead to a situation where there could be a mix between one or two-stop strategies.”

This year, the Jeddah race takes place over the third weekend of April, whereas the previous four editions were held once in December, in its inaugural year, 2021 and the remaining three times in March. Suzuka and Sakhir are usually two of the toughest circuits on tyres, the former because of the lateral forces exerted on them through the many high speed corners on what is the only figure-of-eight circuit on the calendar and the latter because of the thermal degradation generated by the asphalt. It is therefore a logical choice to stick with the hardest three compounds in the range (C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft). With Melbourne (C3, C4, C5) and Shanghai (C2, C3 e C4) following the same pattern as in 2024, it means that only the brand-new C6 will not be called into play in this initial part of the season.

Quickest today was George Russell, the Englishman stopping the clocks in 1’29”545. Next up was Max Verstappen who, on the same C3 compound as the Mercedes driver was just 21 thousandths slower. Alex Albon was third on a set of C4s with which he lapped in 1’29”650. It’s worth noting that today’s top eight drivers represented eight different teams. Behind the top three came the McLaren of Oscar Piastri (1’29”940), Pierre Gasly in the Alpine (1’30”040), the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton (1’30”345), Yuki Tsunoda for Racing Bulls (1’30”497) and Esteban Ocon in the Haas (1’30”728).

Russell’s time today was not enough to give him the nominal pole position for the test, that honour going to Carlos Sainz with his time of 1’29”348 set yesterday in the Williams. He thus repeats his performance of last year when at the wheel of a Ferrari. Further confirmation of how closely matched were the top teams at this test, three different drivers from three different teams topped the time sheet each day, the only one not mentioned so far being Lando Norris on the first day. 

“We’ve had three rather unusual testing days here in Bahrain,” commented Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola. “For years now, Formula 1 has chosen this circuit for the only pre-season test  because the weather is usually very favourable, but that was not the case this week, especially the first two days. Low temperatures, considerably lower than at this time of year in previous years, and strong wind affected the teams’ work and made it even harder than usual to interpret the results, with no previous reference points on this track at such low temperatures.

“From our side, the most data came from the C3 and the C2 and, slightly less so from the C1: that was entirely to be expected, given that these are the compounds usually chosen for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Only a few laps were completed with the C4, while the C5 and C6 never appeared on track, to be expected as only Ferrari and Williams had opted to include these in their allocation. From what we could see, the C2 behaved as expected, confirming that it was further from the C1 than last year and therefore closer to the C3. The hardest compound struggled a bit in these temperatures, while the C3 proved to be the most versatile of the range.

We did not see any real performance runs, which would have allowed us to fully evaluate the performance difference between the compounds. As for degradation of the three hardest compounds, it’s clear that because of the low temperatures, it was minimal, even if it increased slightly today when it was a bit warmer, but not in any significant fashion. Now we head home with plenty of data to study as we prepare for the opening round of the season, the Australian Grand Prix. In Melbourne, we will bring the same compounds in terms of nomenclature, as last year, namely the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft, so we will have a first meaningful look at the softer compounds.”

With testing of the 2025 cars now complete, Pirelli stays at the Sakhir track for a further two days of testing on Sunday 2^nd and Monday 3^rd March. On the agenda, development of the 2026 tyres, working with Alpine and Williams. The French team will run its two test drivers, Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa, while the English squad is giving its race drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz more time on track.

Behind Sainz came the two Ferrari drivers who shared the SF-25. Lewis Hamilton was faster than Charles Leclerc by just 52 thousandths – 1’29”379 for the Englishman, 1’29”431 for the Monegasque. They too set their best times using the C3 compound.

It was cool once again today with temperatures fluctuating between 13 and18 °C, which is definitely unusual for Bahrain, as was the arrival of rain, which meant that the 18 drivers stayed in their garages for quite a while: 18 because Max Verstappen and Alex Albon did not drive today. The only exception was Esteban Ocon who took his Haas for a run on a set of Intermediates, the first time this tyre has been used at Sakhir since testing in April 2017, courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull. In fact, the French driver just did three practice starts.

In terms of tyre usage, once again today the C3 was the main protagonist, although less obviously so than yesterday: 767 laps, 60.97% of the total 1258, were completed on this compound. Apart from the Intermediate, the other tyre making its first appearance of the season was the C4, which did just 30 laps split between Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber), Sainz and Leclerc. The other compounds used were the C2 (238 laps, 18.92%) and the C1 (210 laps, 16.69%). This increased equilibrium between the three hardest compounds when compared to yesterday, was mainly down to the various race simulations, or at least long runs completed by almost all the drivers. Sainz did the most laps (127) while the longest stint came courtesy of Racing Bull’s Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, who completed 25 consecutive laps on a set of C1s.

The third and final day of testing gets underway tomorrow at 10 am local time, ending at 19h00, with the obligatory lunch break from 14.00 to 15.00.

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.

The test will also be an opportunity to see this year’s entire Pirelli range of homologated dry-weather tyres in action. Their construction has been slightly modified to better suit the increased aerodynamic loads that they will be subjected to by the latest version of this generation of cars. Six compounds are available in Sakhir and they can be identified as follows: C1 with the words Pirelli and P Zero in white, but with no bands; C2 with the words and bands in white; C3 with the words in yellow, with no bands; C4 with the words and bands in yellow; C5 with the words in red with no bands; C6 with words and bands in red. The intermediate and extreme wet tyres maintain their usual colours of green and blue respectively.

This coming season marks the debut of the C6, which in line with the naming system adopted by Pirelli for several years now, places it at the softest end of the range. It will be suited to Grands Prix run on street circuits and at other tracks where their characteristics mean tyres are subjected to low energy levels. As for the other compounds, the C1 is again the hardest, and remains very similar to the 2024 version, while the C2 is now closer to the C3, the latter being the most versatile in terms of balance and degradation is substantially the same as the version homologated for the previous two seasons; work on the C4 has centred on reducing the possibility of graining appearing on the tread surface and of degradation, as is also the case for the C5, with the aim of increasing its ability to work in race conditions.

For the Sakhir test, each team can select up to 35 sets of tyres, of which 30 can be used over the three days. Studying the choices made by the teams throws up some interesting indications. This track has always been very hard on tyres, which is why the three hardest compounds are usually chosen for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The C3 is by far the most popular choice for the test, partly because it will be the most used tyre over the course of the season, as was the case in 2024. However, this year, with six compounds available, it could be absent from some Grands Prix. Mercedes is the team opting to use the most sets of C3 (27), with Williams at the other extreme with just 15 sets of this compound. These teams swap places when it comes to the C2: 12 sets for Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon and just two for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Ferrari and Williams have opted to run all six compounds, which means they only have one set of C5 and C6 each, while Aston Martin and Alpine have limited their choice to just the three hardest compounds. Finally, it should be noted that Aston Martin and Haas are prepared for every meteorological eventuality, the former including three sets of intermediates in their allocation, with the American team going for one of intermediates and one of extreme wets. At the moment, according to the FIA’s official forecaster, Meteo France, there is no possibility of rain over the three days.

So, as from tomorrow, all eyes on the Sakhir track: the 2025 season starts here!