Back again are we? 79 days after the 2024 cars last ran collectively during the post-race Abu Dhabi test, the new crop of machinery was lining up at the end of the pitlane in Bahrain to kick-off 2025’s three days of pre-season testing. And much like a race weekend, there were plenty of moments that caught the eye beyond each respective teams’ on-track performance.

Bizarre interruptions

Red flags in pre-season testing used to be the source of much excitement. That’s because a red flag tended to be caused by a car on track, either stopping due to a mechanical issue or finding itself stuck in the gravel or against a barrier due to driver error. The latter would be physically damaging to the car and a driver’s ego, the former a potential major issue that a team would need to address.

Those incidents have become more and more rare when testing has been held in Bahrain, partly because of the huge run-off areas and lack of large gravel traps that means a car rarely ends up picking up damage or in a position it can’t recover from. But also, given we’re in the final year of frozen power unit regulations, the reliability of the cars is so strong they almost run like clockwork.

But the same couldn’t be said for the venue itself this year.

First up, there was the circuit-wide power outage that cost teams around an hour of track time on the first afternoon, with the floodlights having struggled to come on before the failure. It didn’t go down well in the paddock to have an extra hour added onto an already long day, but losing out on running in such a short pre-season was not going to be acceptable.

Then on the final day, glass falling out of the starter’s box onto the pit straight was something I’ve never seen before at an F1 venue, and was a little frustrating for teams trying to obtain as much data as they could in the best conditions of the week.

Compounding that was the session restarting too soon and needing an immediate red flag because a quad bike hadn’t returned to its station yet, but that wasn’t as bad as a shuttle bus cutting across the Turn 9/10 run-off area after lunch, unaware the afternoon running had begun.

As brief as the latter two interruptions were, they were quite concerning errors, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bahrain International Circuit’s analysis of the week is as serious as the teams’ themselves.

The smile on Lewis’s face

This is a point that doesn’t just need applying to pre-season testing, but it is clear how much Lewis Hamilton is loving his new life at Ferrari. The demeanour all week was extremely positive, with the seven-time world champion openly talking about how much he’s enjoying 2025 so far.

Hamilton had been that way prior to arriving in Bahrain, but up until that point he hadn’t had a glimpse of how competitive (or otherwise) the year might be for Ferrari. And yet, even as he got down to the serious business of testing the new car, he remained so positive about everything going on around him.

The premature end to the final day perhaps will have dampened the excitement slightly, but Hamilton is in a new environment that he is clearly embracing so far, and it has energised him in a way that it’s fair to say he appeared to need last year. The pressure will go up from Melbourne onwards, but if that atmosphere can be retained, it could well help get the best out of the 40-year-old.

A fresh start at Mercedes

It isn’t just Hamilton who has been energised by the changes over the winter. Nobody at Mercedes is saying they wanted to lose the most successful driver in the sport’s history, but they are also committing to an upside that you might not have considered.

Given Hamilton’s time with the team and huge success, he naturally earned the ability to tailor his responsibilities over the years to suit him as best he could. That then limited some of the things George Russell could be seen to be doing, because the two drivers needed to be largely aligned on what they did for the team.

Kimi Antonelli’s promotion into Hamilton’s place has created a whole new scenario for Mercedes, with two younger drivers and a fresh set of possibilities. Antonelli is an extremely friendly and likeable personality, who lives and breathes motorsport, and his early enthusiasm means he is open to doing whatever Mercedes would like to try both inside the car but also outside it.

From partner engagements to media duties, Antonelli is a willing participant on all fronts and that has opened the potential for Russell to show more of his personality, too. It’s a scenario where both are still building their brands and growing into their roles, and the team can give them both even more freedom to do so.

It’s a new chapter for Mercedes and, while the team would never have chosen for Hamilton to depart, in many ways the pressure has been taken off, and it appears to be embracing that freedom so far.

Surprising faces in the paddock

Away from its new driver pairing, Mercedes did have a visitor that caught the eye during the test, as Dmitry Mazepin was present in Bahrain on multiple days.

Spending time in the paddock with his younger son Stepan, who races in karts, Mazepin – who remains on an EU sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – also spoke to Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes. Oakes used to be a business partner of the Russian oligarch through his Hitech junior team that helped Nikita Mazepin climb to Formula 1.

Oakes playfully encouraged reporters to expand on any inference or assumptions relating to Mazepin’s presence in the paddock, with Renault’s recent decision to close down its power unit program after this season streamlining Alpine should the F1 team ever be sold.

“Yes, he’s a friend of mine,” Oakes said. “Yes I used to be together with him in Hitech. He was here catching up with another friend of his. It’s nice to see him. I’m not going to go into that, the world’s a crazy place.”

Flavio Briatore spending all three days at the test was also raising some eyebrows as speculation continues to swirl surrounding Jack Doohan’s future at Alpine, but Oakes dismissed it as Briatore simply being “hugely supportive” and interested in how the team is getting on.

It wasn’t just big names related to Alpine that appeared at the test, however. There was also a multi-day visit from Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who spent time with team principal Fred Vasseur as well as the drivers, in a show of just how substantial Hamilton’s addition has been.

There might be stability in regulations and the general pecking order on-track at present, but the business side of F1 is rarely so settled.