Why McLaren can strike back – What to watch for at Bahrain GP

Four races into the 2025 F1 season and we’ve had four different winners – will there be a fifth at the Bahrain GP this weekend?

While McLaren has looked imperious on pure pace, a Max Verstappen masterclass saw Red Bull win in Japan, with Lewis Hamilton snatching the sprint spoils in China.

As a result, just one point separates Lando Norris and Verstappen at the top of the table. Will either of the championship’s top two contenders prevail at Sakhir, or there be yet another name at the top of podium?

Though the on-track action may have been limited in Japan, Bahrain offers ample opportunity for overtaking and excitement, demonstrated by past races like Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s 2014 ‘Duel in the Desert’, Sergio Perez’s shock 2020 win and the fiery opening to the 2021 season as Mercedes and Red Bull locked horns.

Visiting the venue where pre-season testing took place and where McLaren really started to show its potential, Max Verstappen will face a real challenge if he wants to repeat the Suzuka result, but with the world champion’s recent form, anything is possible.

Here’s the themes to look out for in the first night race of the year.

Can Verstappen pull off another miracle?

As sensational as his performance was in the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are likely to be under no illusions that it will be easy to repeat the feat in Bahrain. Suzuka has been a happy hunting ground for Verstappen for a few years now, with four straight victories following last Sunday’s triumph, but the world champion is, at least in theory, set to face a bigger challenge at Sakhir.

Granted, Verstappen is in incredible form, as evidenced by his flawless drive in Japan, and McLaren doesn’t see Bahrain as one of its strongest venues, so if the world champion can keep performing like at Suzuka, another victory can’t be ruled out.

Verstappen arrives in the fourth round of the championship just one point behind Lando Norris in the standings, a situation that looked pretty unlikely at the start of the season, but the Dutch driver has managed to squeeze every bit of performance from his car to maximise his results.

If he can keep doing that until Red Bull finds a way to get more out of the RB21, Verstappen’s chances don’t look too bad, especially given he is driving what some consider to be the fourth-quickest car of the current field.

Will McLaren be faster at a hotter race?

Sakhir hasn’t been a great track for McLaren in recent years, as the Woking-based team struggled with the low-speed cornering demands of the circuit.

Last year, Verstappen crushed the opposition in what was the season-opening race, with Norris the closest McLaren in sixth place, over 48 seconds behind. A lot has changed his then, however.

For starters, McLaren has managed to improve its low-speed performance over the past year, and the current car has been the class of the field since winter testing, regardless of the results in races like Japan.

Crucially, pre-season testing took place in Bahrain, and the British squad emerged as a hot favourite at the conclusion of the three days of running.

Despite Verstappen’s win in Japan, McLaren must be aware that the weekend was mostly a missed opportunity, something that will not want to repeat in Bahrain.

The hotter temperatures should also play into McLaren’s favour, the team having excelled in similar conditions last year.

Can Ferrari’s challenge finally begin?

In the words of team principal Fred Vasseur, Ferrari‘s start to 2025 has been “not ideal”, which sounds a bit like an euphemism given the Maranello squad is yet to finish in the top three in any Sunday races, Lewis Hamilton‘s win in the Chinese GP sprint the exception.

But Ferrari is sticking to its guns for now, aware that 2024 started in a similar fashion and then things got progressively better. It’s a pattern that Ferrari will be hoping is repeated, but one that cannot be taken for granted, particularly given how challenging it is becoming for teams to find more performance in the final year of this generation of cars.

The Scuderia’s pre-season test in Bahrain was a mixed bag, with some promising moments but also some concerns that eventually materialised in the opening three races of the year.

Ferrari is rumoured to be bringing an update – including an upgraded floor – for the SF-25 to Bahrain, but so far there’s been no official confirmation of that. Regardless, a step forward is needed, and quick.

Will the strugglers step up?

The first three races of 2025 have produced a pretty clear picture of who is having a hard time being competitive, both from a drivers’ and teams’ perspective and, like Ferrari, they will be looking to take a step forward in Bahrain, a circuit very familiar to all following the pre-season test.

Alpine arrives in Sakhir at the bottom of the standings as the only team on zero points, a dire situation that will want to rectify in Bahrain, where it enjoyed a pretty strong test less than two months ago. Similarly, Jack Doohan will need a more positive weekend to try to dispel rumours about his future after very costly crashes in Australia and Japan.

Another driver looking for his first points (on merit) will be Carlos Sainz, although even the Spaniard himself admitted in Japan that it might take him up to 10 races to get truly accustomed to the Williams after bringing some “habits” from Ferrari that are not helping him adapt to get closer to team-mate Alex Albon.

Aston Martin looks set to continue to struggle for points in Bahrain after Fernando Alonso claimed that finishing in 11th in Japan was a “small miracle”. Its pre-season test performance was largely unremarkable, and without any major changes in the middle of the triple-header, the team looks set for another tough weekend.

The attention will also be focused on how the Yuki Tsunoda/Liam Lawson swap progresses after both endured a rather subdued Japanese GP following Red Bull’s decision.

How realistic is a move to V10 engines?

Formula 1’s engine manufacturers are set to meet with the FIA in Bahrain to discuss the idea of switching to V10 power units after weeks of talk and rumours about the plans.

The purpose of the meeting is believed to be gathering the thoughts of the manufacturers to gauge how in favour (or opposed) they would be to changing the engine formula ahead of plan.

F1 engines will change significantly next year in a rules cycle scheduled to last until 2030, but FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem has been pushing for an early switch to V10s as early as 2028.

Although that plan is seen as optimistic, the Bahrain meeting should help clarify how realistic any such move would be – though forecast has become recently gloomy.

“As far as Honda is concerned, our reason for entering F1 again is electrification and (the type of) powertrains,” said president of Honda Racing Corporation Koji Watanabe.

“You need to be open-minded,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We’re all racers, we like the engines of the past, and then you need to strike the right balance between what is exciting to us dinosaurs, screaming loud engines, and then the fanbase, and the audiences that are on the track.”

Audi is also thought not to be keen on jettisoning the 2026 hybrid engine rules.