Sam Collins’ Testing Takeaways & 2025 Predictions! | F1 Pre-Season Testing 2025

Summary

The 2025 F1 pre-season testing video by Sam Collins is filled with unexpected developments and bold predictions. Key highlights include Lewis Hamilton's switch to Ferrari, generating mixed results during testing, and creating an uncertain outlook for his season. The session also shed light on the high pressure faced by rookies like Liam Lawson and Kimmy Antonelli due to major team transitions and upcoming rule changes. Weather conditions in Bahrain played a significant role, impacting team performance data. Notably, bright green flow visualization dye became an unexpected favorite during testing, indicating a shift in focus towards maximizing track data. Red Bull Racing's performance remains enigmatic, with the team unveiling a promising upgrade package. Overall, testing results presented a jumbled pecking order, setting the stage for a thrilling and unpredictable F1 season ahead.

Highlights

• Lewis Hamilton's switch to Ferrari adds a thrilling dynamic to the 2025 season. 🏎️
• Rookies face big expectations with next year's car developments already in focus. 📈
• Bahrain's colder-than-usual weather challenged teams' testing strategies. 🌡️
• Flow visualization dye in bright green took center stage during testing. 🌟
• Red Bull's quiet yet promising upgrades make them a team to watch. 👀
• The testing results suggest an unpredictable and exhilarating Formula 1 season ahead. 🔥

Key Takeaways

• Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari presents new challenges, making his season unpredictable. 🎢
• Rookies are under pressure due to team transitions and 2026 rule changes, but experience less immediate performance pressure. 🥵
• Unusually cold weather in Bahrain impacted testing conditions and team strategies. 🌨️
• Bright green flow visualization dye was a sensation, highlighting teams' efforts to understand track data. 🌈
• Red Bull Racing's testing was intriguing, with upgrades showing potential by the end of the session. 🚀
• The overall pecking order is unclear, promising an exciting and unpredictable F1 season. 🔮

Overview

In this year's pre-season testing, Lewis Hamilton's much-anticipated move to Ferrari marked a seismic shift in Formula 1 dynamics. Initially settling in well, Hamilton's comfort seemed shaken as testing progressed, hinting at a rocky adaptation period. Fans and analysts are eagerly watching to see how this new chapter unfolds for the seasoned champion, who might not have the smoothest path with Ferrari as initially expected.

Rookies in Formula 1 are under unique pressure this season, not necessarily from immediate performance expectations, but due to the significant team changes and 2026 rule amendments looming ahead. The transition of teams like Sauber to Audi focuses the spotlight on rookies like Kimmy Antonelli at Mercedes, who must prove his mettle next to established teammates. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson feels the heat at Red Bull, a reminder of the high stakes and rapid transitions in F1.

Testing conditions added another layer of complexity this year, with unusually cold weather in Bahrain affecting traditional hot-weather testing advantages for some teams. The rampant use of flow visualization dye, especially in McLaren’s striking bright green, underscored teams' commitment to optimizing data collection. Red Bull’s enigmatic testing evolution, culminating in promising upgrades, leaves fans with tantalizing questions ahead of the season opener. As the teams head to Melbourne, the 2025 season promises unpredictability at every turn.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter 'Introduction and Overview' discusses a deviation in format for the testing takeaway videos due to the proximity and nature of preseason testing, indicating a unique context for the discussions.
• 00:30 - 03:00: Team Performances and Key Driver Changes The chapter discusses the unpredictability and changing dynamics of team performances in a racing season. It highlights that while some teams like Hass or Sauber may have predictable performances and some ground to make up, the midfield competition has become very intense. It's hard to predict which team is leading. The chapter also discusses high anticipation for Lewis, a notable racer, driving a red car, as narrated from a personal anecdote of standing at Stevenage station.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Rookie Drivers and Team Pressures The chapter explores the buzz surrounding Lewis Hamilton's preseason switch from Mercedes to Ferrari. Observers are keenly interested in how he integrates with the new team. Initial impressions are positive as Hamilton appears comfortable and content, showcasing an optimistic attitude and demeanor during the early stage of testing. Enthusiasm builds for what lies ahead.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Weather Impact on Testing The chapter discusses the impact of weather on Formula 1 testing, specifically focusing on a potential title fight between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton during day three of testing. Hamilton's demeanor and performance seemed to change, with less satisfaction expressed during a press conference and lap times that were not as strong as anticipated. This opens the possibility for other teams like Mercedes and Red Bull to be more competitive, suggesting that Hamilton might face a tougher challenge than expected.
• 07:00 - 09:00: Flow Visualization Techniques The chapter discusses the opportune timing for rookies in Formula 1 due to upcoming major rule changes set for 2026. It highlights how engineering teams are already shifting focus towards developing new cars for the future, rather than concentrating on the current season. This situation creates a unique environment for rookie drivers, as they experience less pressure while teams prepare for a significant transition.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Red Bull Racing Analysis The chapter discusses the dynamics and pressures within the Red Bull Racing team and other Formula 1 teams. It highlights the situation of drivers like 'Borto,' who may not feel much pressure due to upcoming transition plans involving the Audi team. Conversely, rookie drivers like Kimmy Antonelli and Liam Lawson face significant pressure. Antonelli is competing for Mercedes alongside George Russell, a highly coveted seat, while Lawson is a rookie racing alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing, showcasing the intense competition and high expectations at this level.
• 10:00 - 11:30: Unpredictable Season Ahead The chapter 'Unpredictable Season Ahead' highlights the pressure on young drivers, particularly focusing on Lawson, who is racing for Red Bull Racing. Despite the dream-like opportunity, being a teammate to Max Verstappen is daunting, especially considering the experiences of other talented drivers like Sergio Perez. Similarly, Duan at Alpine also feels the weight of expectations with limited experience.

Sam Collins’ Testing Takeaways & 2025 Predictions! | F1 Pre-Season Testing 2025 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] we've been doing these testing takeaway videos for a number of years and I have to say this one is going to be a little bit different because testing preseason testing has been a little bit different because it's so so close and really
• 00:30 - 01:00 quite unpredictable yeah there has been a little bit of the predictable performances from some teams like Hass or saber who may have a little bit of ground to make up but it's clear that the Midfield has closed up enormously and in fact it's really hard to predict even who is at the front nonetheless with all of that said here are my testing takeaways Lewis in the red car is what we've all been waiting to see I was stood on the platform of stevenage station near my home when I heard the
• 01:00 - 01:30 news that Lewis Hamilton was going to switch from Mercedes to Ferrari so this preseason test has been really really interesting to see how the seven time world champion has been embedding into the red team when he first arrived at the team it all looked really positive he seemed to be really happy he said he felt at home and even in the first couple of days of the test his messaging and his whole demeanor he looked like a man who was quite happy to be driving the car and happy with what's going on and we were all getting ready for what
• 01:30 - 02:00 looked like it could have been a title fight between charl lir and Lewis Hamilton however on day three of the test things seemed to change ever so slightly the tone of Hamilton in the press conference shifted somewhat he didn't seem as happy with the car and even his lap times didn't look quite as strong through the longer runs as we expected them to and I think people like Mercedes Red Bull and some of the others may be a bit closer than we think so Hamilton may not be in for such an easy
• 02:00 - 02:30 ride in the Italian team as we all thought at first there could not be a better season to be a rookie in Formula 1 yeah that's right with a major rule change coming at the end of the season ahead of 2026 a huge amount of the engineering staff for every single team is going to be focused on developing a completely different car to the one the rookies are driving this year to the point where some teams have already switched off a lot of their development on this year's car and in some cases that means the pressure is
• 02:30 - 03:00 kind of off Saba for example transitioning to becoming the works Audi team next year that's where all of their attention is so for drivers like borto there's not a lot of pressure but in some cases drivers like Kimmy Antonelli he's got a lot to prove he's in the works Mercedes seat alongside George Russell and that is a hot seat to be in a lot of people want his job at Red Bull Racing Liam Lawson is in the hot seat alongside Max V stappen and officially he is a rookie even though he's got a
• 03:00 - 03:30 little bit of experience under his belt now however for Lawson there's a huge pressure on him because you might think for a young driver driving for Red Bull Racing would be a dream job absolutely but if your teammate is Max for stappen well just have a look and see what happened to Sergio Perez an incredibly talented driver and look where he is now so huge pressure on Liam Lawson Duan down at Alpine also another driver who has a lot of pressure on him as well just a s sing Le race under his belt and
• 03:30 - 04:00 at Alpine well maybe that pressure is a little bit reduced the team is another team in a transitional Year all he has to do is stay as close as possible to his teammate Pierre gazley but gazley is a proven race winner will do and be able to raise his game to meet that level cuz if he does there's not too much left for him to prove then look at Red Bull's newly renamed junior team racing Bulls Isaac haar taking the second seat alongside Yuki Coda a driver many people
• 04:00 - 04:30 expected to be promoted to the main Red Bull team instead of Liam Lawson and there are still rumors around exactly how those driver lineups will end up by the end of the year and that is a challenging thing for them to take a look at finally a driver who perhaps has the least pressure on him apart from maybe boretto Ole bman he proved himself pretty well in Saudi Arabia last year driving for Ferrari then got a substitution into the main has team who he's now driving for for the rest of the year well well Hass have had a
• 04:30 - 05:00 relatively quiet test and apart from a moment where the car decided to self-destruct slightly going down the main stet Ban's also had quite a quiet test just getting on with it while the lap times haven't been spectacular that's the way of H in 2025 that car could be a little bit of a dark horse at least in the early races of the year but for h 2 they are also focusing quite heavily on next year's car so for bman all he has to do is keep going and try to match estan okon all the way through
• 05:00 - 05:30 the year and so far it looks pretty good the weather in a surprise to absolutely nobody I want to talk about the weather because in Bahrain you're in the middle of the desert there's no real weather to talk about it's hot during the day and cold at night except for this year it seems it's been cold all of the time track temperatures below 30° Centigrade consistently throughout the test and the air temperature as low as 15 de c as
• 05:30 - 06:00 well that in Formula 1 terms is absolutely perishing cold you might as well be testing in the Arctic Circle or as we call it at this time of year Silverstone we actually saw intermediate tires even used at one point in Bahrain and that's just unimaginable in most normal conditions nonetheless that has really skewed everybody's run plans and because of those cold conditions you start to wonder which teams that might favor well in the past Mercedes always
• 06:00 - 06:30 looked good when it was cold think back to Las Vegas one of the coldest races on the calendar even though once again you're in the middle of the desert maybe there's a little bit of a theme here but the Mercedes whilst it's not looked bad hasn't looked massively better than everybody else in these conditions so it does show to me that the form has shifted and you can't use the hot cold form book to predict who's going to be good or bad but what it does mean is a lot of the data that the teams have gathered over all three days has to be slightly caveated in the engineering
• 06:30 - 07:00 offices saying well our car looked really good in this condition but when we turn up the temperature different air densities different car performance different tire performance we just hope it all still works and if somebody gets their extrapolation on the mathematics that they all do on their laptops when they get back to the factory wrong well you are going to see some really surprising results in Melbourne assuming it's hot and sunny which it always is in Australia isn't it flow visualization
• 07:00 - 07:30 one of the big talking points of this year's test has quite clearly been the sheer amount of bright green dye applied to almost everybody in the field as if other colors aren't available in fact I did almost have to go and check the sporting and Technical regulations to see if bright green flow visualization die had been mandated by the Fia at some point and I'd missed it no Mercedes still have their corporate looking blue gray flow visualization die they use on their car a few other teams did have a few spots of other different color colors of dye other than the bright
• 07:30 - 08:00 green well McLaren probably used up half the world's supply of bright green ink on their car on the first day of testing Plastering it all the way down the left hand side of the car then realizing the entire world could see what their air flow is doing yeah you can see how the air is flowing over the Bodywork of the car it's a great tool for the engineers to understand what the real car is doing and how they can compare that to the wind tunnel and to the virtual wind tunnel computational fluid dynamic
• 08:00 - 08:30 but it also means everybody else can see it including our very high quality cameras on the side of the track for me though the big surprise is that everybody is using so much of this flow visualization technique few years ago nobody in Formula 1 used fl's die at all it's not a new technology it's been around forever but they decided to use it in such large quantities tells us that actually teams are maxing out their wind tunnel allocations and need to make every little bit of running that they
• 08:30 - 09:00 have with a real car on a real track really really valuable you have to ask the question though is it a little bit of confidence or even overconfidence from McLaren to put such a large amount of flov on their car in such a public way do they think they're that good I actually think it was a bit of an oversight and they realized slightly too late they did manage to block one photographer but as I said they didn't block our cameras did they the question of Red Bull Red Red Bull Racing for me has been utterly
• 09:00 - 09:30 intriguing quite frankly a lot of people thought they were sandbagging with their car as it arrived for the first 2 days of testing it didn't look particularly spectacular it looked a little bit hard to drive and it also looked externally at least almost identical to the car they finished the season with last year closer inspection showed it's actually quite different underneath the Bodywork however the car didn't seem to improve as the test went on even into the final day and then Red Bull put an upgrade package on it and the car seemed to work
• 09:30 - 10:00 it didn't seem super easy to drive Lawson seemed to struggle the stappen seemed to struggle but it did all start to come together as night fell on the final day and the speed came out of the Red Bull showing that Max for stappen is still the man to beat in Formula 1 but last year the car became massively beatable will it become beatable again we're going to have to wait to Melbourne to find that one out
• 10:00 - 10:30 even with all of that said for me it remains utterly impossible to come up with a really reliable pecking order because you see weird results Pierre gasty for example looks really strong on the final day in the Alpine a year old car it doesn't seem quite right does it Max V stappen he was off the pace for a lot of the sessions as we said but then came good McLaren they seem to be they are thereabouts but Mercedes big questions about how quick George Russell truly is and then the Ferraris I can't really believe that with with a complete new car concept Lewis Hamilton charlot
• 10:30 - 11:00 Clair they're going to be a long way from the front I think they're going to be right at the sharp end so that's an awful lot of cars I've already said are going to be at the front then you get strange cars that could perform really well in certain conditions and on certain tracks looking at you Williams looking at you Hass and I think a few of the other back of the Field Runners may work their way through in certain occasions leading us to what I am certain is going to be one of the most unpredictable seasons of Formula 1 that anybody has ever seen and quite frankly
• 11:00 - 11:30 I cannot wait see you in Melbourne