Lando Norris‘ McLaren is turning heads in Bahrain with blistering test pace that has the F1 paddock buzzing. After Thursday’s impressive long runs, it’s looking more and more like McLaren might have a genuine title contender for 2025.
Even Lewis Hamilton noticed.
“The McLaren did a great run yesterday,” the Ferrari driver admitted. “Max did a decent one today too, especially considering the temperatures.”
Friday brought significantly warmer conditions in Bahrain, dramatically affecting lap times across all teams.
Hamilton was quick to add some perspective, though. “It’s hard to know what fuel loads everyone is running as we’re all doing different programs. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt.”
McLaren, fresh off their constructors’ championship, seems to have maintained their momentum. Hamilton believes they might be “the quickest” team on the grid right now.
“They could be as dominant as Red Bull was for many, many years,” he suggested.
For Ferrari and Hamilton, the focus remains internal. “We’re just trying to improve,” he said simply.
The seven-time world champion finally got to experience some longer runs in the afternoon and early evening sessions. Until then, he’d been limited to just 10 consecutive laps at a time in Ferrari’s new SF-25.
The real question now is whether McLaren’s testing pace will translate to race weekends when the season begins in earnest.
