2025 F1 Bahrain pre-season testing - Day One as it happened

A couple of improvement - but Lawson is still top of the pile. Tsunoda is his nearest challenger now, 0.2s off in the Racing Bulls.

Albon has slotted into third for Williams, 0.396s away from Lawson's top time. 

And it's between Hulkenberg and Albon.

Albon looks to make a move on the inside of Hulkenberg at Turn 1, but the latter holds it on the outside. Albon decides not to fight it any harder, backing off.

Lawson lowers the benchmark again to a 1m31.914s, 0.4s ahead of Hulkenberg in second.

Lawson goes 0.5s clear of Hamilton at the top of the timesheets as he sets a 1m32.0365. Further down the order, Piastri has set his first time of the day, 2.1s off the pace in eighth. 

Norris, who is the bookmakers' favourite to win the title this year, watches from the pit wall on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Norris will be in the car this afternoon. Teammate Piastri has yet to put a time on the board for McLaren.

Hamilton runs wide on a recent lap before returning to the pit lane. He remains top of the timesheets.

An oversteer moment for Hamilton but he's stormed to the top of the timesheets.

Hamilton has gone 0.2s clear of Albon as we head into the second hour of running on the opening day in Bahrain.

Alex Albon has moved to the top of the timesheets now for Williams - a 1m32.862s for the Thai driver. 

The first hour of testing is nearly done and dusted. There's just 0.3s between the top four: Albon, Alonso, Lawson and Doohan.

Alonso goes fastest for Aston Martin - a 1m33.031s for the two-time world champion. That means there's 0.165s between the top two.

Tsunoda has moved into third for Racing Bulls, 0.5s off the pace.

Alonso moves into second in his Aston Martin, just 0.163s off Doohan's top time.

In the last two seasons, Aston Martin have started the year well, before dropping off after struggling with in-season development.

For this year, at least, they will have Adrian Newey working for them - who starts work at Aston Martin next week.

It's been a busy start to the day for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. He was one of the first cars out on track, running with a huge aero rake.

This aero rake is used by teams to understand the air flow around their cars, particularly the front wing.

Read our full story here as Hamilton gets to work with Ferrari in Bahrain

Hulkenberg slots into second with a 1m35.062s, running on the medium tyres. 

The German has made the switch to Sauber from Haas for this year. Sauber finished bottom of the constructors' standings in 2024, scoring just four points. 

It's Doohan on top now for Alpine. The Australian has set a 1m33.196s, putting him 2.4s clear of Bearman.

10-time F1 race winner Valtteri Bottas is back at Mercedes as their test and reserve driver. Bottas will also mentor Kimi Antonelli during his rookie campaign.

The Finn hopes to make a return to the grid in 2026.

A few early times on the board - which are quite meaningless at this stage - but Lawson is on top of the order at the moment.

The Kiwi has set a 1m35.086s - a 1m31.344s from Verstappen was the fastest time on day one of testing in 2024.

Hamilton appears in his Ferrari with a big aero rake fitted to his car. 

The seven-time world champion has had a busy winter with various tests with his new team in older machinery.

The first four hours of running in Bahrain is now underway!

This session will run until 11am UK time. There will be an hour break before all 10 teams will make a driver change for the afternoon session.

Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes is the first driver out on track as the 2025 season kicks off.

Here's Angela Cullen, Jerome D'Ambrosio and Fred Vasseur.

Lewis Hamilton has worked with all three before their link-up at Ferrari this year.

Liam Lawson has replaced Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull seat, alongside Max Verstappen.

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton is in action in today's morning session.

All 10 teams will swap drivers in the lunch break - but here's who is driving this morning: 

McLaren: Piastri 

Ferrari: Hamilton

Red Bull: Lawson

Mercedes: Antonelli

Aston Martin: Alonso

Alpine: Doohan

Haas: Bearman

Racing Bulls: Tsunoda

Williams: Albon

Sauber: Hulkenberg 

Good morning and welcome to Crash.net's live blog for F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The first four hours of running gets underway at 7am UK time, with Lewis Hamilton set to be in action for Ferrari.

It's going to be an exciting day as we get to see all 10 teams out on track at the same time as they prepare for the new campaign. 

Eight of the 10 teams have new driver line ups, with just McLaren and Aston Martin sticking with the same two drivers.

The grid features five rookies as well: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Ollie Bearman (Haas), Isack Hadjar (RB), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and Jack Doohan (Alpine).

With limited testing time, the next three days will be crucial to these rookies.

We will be bringing you frequent updates and news from Bahrain as F1 2025 officially gets underway.