After a long winter break, it’s testing time in F1. The three-day pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit is set to kick off on February 26. Teams and drivers have already started arriving in the country to acclimatize to the Middle-Eastern time zone and weather.
However, Bahrain’s weather currently has surprised Lando Norris. “It’s still chilly out here in Bahrain,” the British driver said in a video for McLaren on Instagram. And Norris ain’t wrong as the temperatures in Bahrain are currently around 14 to 17 °C (57 to 62 °F), which is relatively cold for the Middle East.
As Norris may have arrived a couple of days earlier, he had plans to experience some warmer weather as opposed to the cold winter he has witnessed over the past two months in Europe. The 25-year-old was vacationing in Finland earlier this year to enjoy his break away from the track.
And he was also planning to let his hair loose a bit before the proceedings in Bahrain begin on Wednesday. “I was hoping to suntan and sunbathe a little bit the last couple of days,”, he said. Now, it isn’t like the sun hasn’t come out in Bahrain at all, but Norris revealed another surprising detail.
Apparently, the reason why he hasn’t been able to do sunbathing is rain in Bahrain. “One has not been able to do that and it’s actually been raining a little,” he added.
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Rainy weather in any Middle Eastern country like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or the UAE is quite a rare phenomenon. While rain has hit motorsport disciplines like the World Endurance Championship (WEC) during the 8 Hours of Bahrain in 2023, F1 events in the Middle East region have never witnessed rain interruptions.
Will the 2025 Pre-Season testing break that trend? It is hard to say, even with Norris’ on-ground weather report.
The only good thing that has happened for the #4 driver is him getting a new photograph — that isn’t “horribly dirty” — on his paddock pass. Hopefully, the three days of testing action in the new McLaren MCL39 will add to his list of positives.
What happens in F1’s Pre-Season testing
Pre-season testing is a precursor to every F1 season, usually taking place toward the end of February. Earlier, the three-day test used to be run in Barcelona. However, in recent years, Bahrain has become F1’s go-to track for pre-season testing.
Over the three days of the test, all teams put their actual cars through the paces — if they had kept the car under wraps — over the eight available hours each day. Both drivers of a team, though, have to share one car with each team running only one for the entirety of the test.
Teams get a fair idea of where their pace is relative to the other teams besides figuring out any reliability issues or other problematic characteristics that may stick out as a sore thumb later in the season. Ideally, everyone looks to have a flawless test with no problems, but that is hardly the case in reality.
Engine failures, hydraulic issues, crashes, or spins due to inefficient airflow are all possible incidents that can happen during pre-season testing with any team. Usually, this could happen due to a completely novel or incomplete car concept, as was the case with Mercedes last year and McLaren in 2023.
In 2025, all teams look quite confident about having a good pre-season test. Teams like Ferrari and McLaren seem to be the potential frontrunners this season with their respective cars being better than Red Bull’s.
On the other hand, there is still uncertainty about which team may struggle and will have to put in a lot of work before the season-opening weekend in Australia from March 14 to 16.
