Biggest F1 Pre-Season Testing Tech Updates

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Testing is over for the F1 teams in Bahrain and the attention now turns to the season opener in Australia. We're asking the question: just what did we learn from pre-season testing, as the covers finally come off the cars?

To kick off we will be taking a look at some of the things that have been spotted for pre-season testing! While some we may never see again due to the performances in testing, and others we may not yet understand exactly how they've been used to extract performance - it's always good to see just how the teams are evolving their cars... Especially in the final year of the current set of regulations, while balancing against the demands of creating their 2026 challengers.

So let's dive straight into the top updates that have caught my eye over the 3 days of testing.

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McLaren

Cooling System Layouts

Cooling layouts being explored by the team to optimize setups for the season ahead. Now, it's unclear which option McLaren is going to enter the new season with, and if this is indeed being tried to see how the car coped under different settings which would give the team the option to change depending on the track.

To start the testing event, the rear of the McLaren was demonstrating a similar style to last season with the main central exit and side exits looking quite open and normal. However, on Day 2, we saw a much different style adopted by the team, which consisted of a much smaller, tighter central exit allowing less heat to come from the bodywork and the larger open side exits had been replaced with a more compact dented styled design instead - which they also kept for Day 3.

It’s unlikely, although not impossible, that the actual cooling elements were changed. This seems like it was very much a test to see which style of cooling gives the better results, as we know that the tighter cooling element means less drag on the car.

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Ferrari and Mercedes

Sidepod Inlets

Ferrari have opted for the P-shaped pods and overbite cooling on the side pods. This is the “Red Bull” design that so many on the grid have now adopted.

The duct on the Ferrari hasn’t been split into 2 like Red Bull, but Mercedes on the W16 have opted to go for a split with at least 2 sections, as well as a very clever feature that we saw on their floor.

This additional feature faces more towards the center of the car, looking like it has a very specific job, which early thoughts are to direct the air to the back tires. Those back tires we know suffered last year from serious overheating, so maybe Mercedes have found a clever little trick to combat this W15 issue. It will be interesting to see if this stays on the W16 for the opening race of the season down under.

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Ferrari

Front Suspension

One of the biggest changes is, of course, to the front suspension of the Ferrari. The team have opted to change from a push rod system to a pull rod system - the only top team to make such a big change.

There has been much debate over which system is the most effective, with both having pros and cons, but the real aim of the change for Ferrari, especially in the final year of the regulations, will be for the aerodynamic gains it will bring. The team, at the launch of the SF-25, told the press that the main factor of the change was that they had exhausted the possibilities for gains under the old system. So why would such a change be needed?

Well, the components in the front of the car will now be able to be much lower due to the new layout, which in turn will lower the centre of gravity in the car. By doing this, and doing it well, the gains are obvious, as with a lowered centre of gravity, you will get a better maintained speed in the higher corners. It's able to manage the lateral forces easier in turns as well as being able to make more quicker responsive adjustments to direction. It will help evenly distribute the weight across the tires, reduce the roll during turns, and of course a lower centre of gravity will make the diffuser area even more effective. 

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Williams

Rear Suspension and New Gear Box

Much is being talked about with regards to their performance in testing and it seems that Williams have found a way around the cost cap constraints to maximize performance in the FW47 in a way similar to Alpine.

You see, Williams are using fundamentally the same chassis as the 2024 FW46. The roll-hoop is identical and so are the main features. There are some changes to it, but these are minor, and what this has done is it's freed up resources to deliver updates to other key areas of the car to try and maximize the package available to their drivers this year.

A change to last year has come courtesy of their relationship with Mercedes. Last year, while Aston Martin opted for the newer rear suspension and gearbox package from Mercedes, Williams opted to run the older gear box and rear suspension.

This year, while remaining coy on what the updated package brought from Mercedes will bring in terms of performance, Williams have opted for the newer package to update and boost their chances in 2025. This means the team has now gone from a pull rod system to the push rod system, which, like above, is for aerodynamic gain and of course the obvious performance gains by running a newer Mercedes gear box.

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Red Bull

Front Wing

While much has been said about the struggles Red Bull had last season, testing showed us very little with the introduction of the RB21. It prompted some unfounded speculation that this wasn't the Australia spec Red Bull, and we will see a different RB21 in a couple of weeks.

While I don’t fully believe that testing showed that Red Bull is still asking questions of their car. Testing offered us a little insight with the introduction of the final day of a new flex front wing that wasn’t used in the previous days on Max Verstappen’s car. It may not have set the timesheets on fire, but Red Bull, notably last year, were one of the teams who didn’t bring a flexi front wing at the end of the season to combat the McLaren-Mercedes style that the FIA deemed legal late on. We can assume that this is their attempt at replicating that advantage those teams offered.

This could be impacted along with several teams from the Spanish GP onwards where the FIA have recently announced a change to these regulations, meaning that the current 15mm flex allowance will be reduced to 10mm flex. The teams asked for the Spanish GP as the race this starts due to the cost cap implications of having to change them after getting reassurances last season the rules were remaining the same.

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With a different race start to the season and a break between testing and the opening race to analyze and adapt set ups, it will be interesting to see just how the teams react to their testing and what is actually on the cars when they roll out the pits in Melbourne.

Dont forget that you can keep up to date with all of the latest Tech updates before each race here and also don’t forget I will be back once again this season with Adam and our new co host Zach on the Fantasy Formula Deadline Stream to bring you the latest news and how it impacts your F1 Fantasy team live before each qualifying deadline. 

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