F1 teams have completed their pre-season testing programs and compared the data to the wind tunnel and CFD data. They now know what parts of their cars to tweak, and the drivers have begun getting acclimatised to them. They will also give feedback on how to upgrade the cars.
Although the timing sheets matter in pre-season testing, they are not always accurate. Teams may choose to sandbag, meaning not running their cars as fast as possible. This is to throw other teams off their true pace. The question is, which teams were sandbagging and who was running their true speed?
Which teams were sandbagging in pre-season testing?
There is no exact way to know which teams were sandbagging. From the timings, it does look like Williams were showing their hand. Carlos Sainz topped the afternoon session on day two, while Alex Albon was third in the standings on day three. Many teams may have chosen to hide their true pace, but who were they, and how did they do it?
Mercedes
Mercedes are serial sandbaggers and have done so for many years. They generally run their car slower than their rival teams to fool them. In this year’s testing session, there was a black rectangle painted on their car around where the suspension meets the front wing to show a fake air intake. If this is true, Mercedes could be hiding something so their competitors don’t copy it.
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CEO of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, also claimed he is worried about the Silver Arrow pace. He suggested Mercedes should have been “two seconds” faster than the pack during testing. He is relating to day two, where the conditions were cold, the temperatures when Mercedes excelled in 2024. However, there is no way back up these claims. These comments could be a way to make their rivals believe they could be faster.
Red Bull
Red Bull is also another master in sandbagging. They were renowned for doing so in their early domination periods in the early 2010s. There would be no surprise if they did so again. At first look, the Red Bull design looks very similar to its predecessor, the RB20. They could be bringing major upgrades for the first race, meaning their lap times were irrelevant.
Take a closer look at Red Bull’s new front wing and nose that the team introduced for the last day of pre-season testing… 👀🔍
The new nose is more rounded and no longer attached to the main plane of the front wing, creating a small gap underneath the tip of the nose. pic.twitter.com/T73YNa6JD1
— Formula Aerodynamics (@F_Aerodynamics) February 28, 2025
They also tried multiple parts on their cars, from front wings to underfloors. This could be to throw teams off, which parts worked, so if teams were looking to copy parts, they wouldn’t know which direction to go.
Ferrari
Ferrari looked strong during the pre-season test. However, new recruit Lewis Hamilton poured cold water on the car, claiming the Scuderia still had “work to do“. This is despite Ferrari topping sessions and overall looking fast. However, they weren’t as strong as McLaren in the longer runs.
Ferrari did a little off the pace compared to the constructor champions on the long runs by around 0.3 tenths. However, this could be due to several reasons. Ferrari could have had more fuel on board or even the Scuderia could have been running different programs. We will see when the season opener kicks off.
McLaren
Over the three days, it was reported that Lando Norris wasn’t pushing his McLaren to its full potential. This would be to hide the true pace of the 2025 challenger. The team is the reigning Constructors’ Champions, and everyone will be chasing them down.
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Despite being quickest on the first day, the papaya cars were generally quite in the standings. McLaren team principal claimed the timings should be taken with a pinch of salt. He said “Every information we get needs to be taken with some care.”.
Aston Martin
The Aston Martin drivers claimed to be less than happy with their cars. They were slower than their midfield rivals, with Fernando Alonso claiming the car was where they left off in Abu Dhabi. However, with Adrian Newey joining the team, Aston Martin would have wanted to impress. They produced worrying data during the test, but it could be to throw a tight midfield off the scent of the iconic green cars.
We won’t know any team’s true pace until we go racing in Australia. That’s an exciting prospect as we have no idea who will be fighting for wins. Up and down the grid, all teams will look to tweak their car before the season opener. Testing is more for the teams and drivers to understand their cars, more than taking the timings as true fact.
