Ranking every F1 team from best to worst after 2025 pre-season testing

Thousands of laps completed and some bizarre red flags was the story of F1 pre-season testing in 2025. 

Power cuts, shattered glass windows and a bus on-track made it memorable, but how do the teams stack up heading to Australia?

RacingNews365 has ranked the 10 teams after testing, from best to worst.

Let us know in the comments if you agree with our ranking!

1. McLaren

McLaren heads into the season firmly installed as title favourites in both the drivers' and constructors' standings. 

Whilst it was only seventh-best on the lap charts with 381 on the board, Lando Norris's race simulation was eye-catching, and left Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in the dust, although the usual testing caveats do apply, as does the fact that conditions were about 20 degrees colder than will be expected in April's Bahrain GP. 

Still, a fast car is a fast car and impossible to hide.

2. Ferrari

Ferrari completed one more lap than McLaren across the three days, but looks to be a little off the MCL39, despite a promising first official test for Lewis Hamilton. 

The Scuderia did not do any running on the softer tyres it ordered from Pirelli, sticking to the C2 and C3 rubber as most of the field did.

Leclerc's race pace sim was okay, but Hamilton did not complete one after a gremlin struck on Friday afternoon. 

There are still many questions Ferrari hasn't answered, but it still heads to Melbourne as the second-fastest team - or as it ended the 2024 season. 

3. Mercedes

The most laps of any team and a decent turn of speed made this Mercedes' best pre-season test since 2020 and the mighty W11. 

Might this have been aided by the cold conditions in which the troubled W15 of last season flew? That is the million-dollar question George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have hanging over their heads heading down under.

4. Red Bull

Red Bull is in trouble, big trouble.

The RB21 does not seem to be a big step forward of the RB20, with the ideal balance in a very small operating window Max Verstappen only found briefly late on Friday. 

Liam Lawson has settled in well, but the fact that technical chief Pierre Wache is already throwing a dead cat in the form of highlighting other's flexi-wings instead of focusing on his own team speaks loud.

It also completed the fewest laps of any team with 304 after mechanical gremlins for both Verstappen and Lawson.

5. Williams

The team with the biggest step forward over the winter, with the fastest single lap over the test - a 1:29.348, eclipsing Hamilton by 0.013s.

That time was set by Carlos Sainz, who admitted that he still feels "lost" in the FW47, which appears to be a huge step forward for Williams. 

Williams still finds itself a way behind the established top four teams, but it is now at the head of the midfield at should be snipping for Q3 appearances and solid points in the early races, especially if the likes of Lawson and Antonelli struggle to get up to speed early on at difficult tracks like Shanghai and Suzuka. 

6. Alpine

Alpine's turnaround from 2024 is night and day. 12 months ago, this was a team which hit rock-bottom, but some good technical signings and upgrades towards the end of 2024 gave the team a shove in the right direction.

That momentum has been maintained over the off-season and it is with Williams at the head of the midfield, which is the very least a works team, for now, should be achieving. 

7. Aston Martin

Adrian Newey has a big job on his hands heading into work at Aston Martin, starting tomorrow (March 3rd). 

There is nothing apparently wrong with the AMR25, it does what the drivers want, but it just appears slow, and that should be a concern, although it is the team with the most eyes focused on 2026 already. 

It has been leap-frogged by Alpine and Williams, both teams it comfortably beat in the 2024 standings.

8. Haas

In times gone, Haas would usually drain the fuel, turn the engine up to 11 and set a glory run to hog the headlines on the final day of testing. 

That went last year, with boss Ayao Komatsu continuing this engineering and testing-led approach.

The tanks were brimmed and Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman pounded around for 457 laps of pure data gathering.

It does make it hard to place Haas as it did not show any flashes of outright speed, but this was not in the programme. 

There was also reliability concerns when Bearman's engine cover ripped itself apart on Friday morning, the second such failure this year after Ocon's in a Silverstone shakedown.

9. Racing Bulls

Racing Bulls had an anonymous test with neither Yuki Tsunoda or Isack Hadjar doing anything of note, except a perfectly executed 360 spin. 

It racked up 454 laps for the third-highest total, but it was a quiet week. Perhaps, that's just how they wanted it...

10. Stake

Stake has made no clear progress forward from the struggles of 2024, with car still holding many of the same traits as it did last season. 

Nico Hulkenberg's guile pulled some respectability but he and team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto are going to be in for a long, hard season, with the results being closely monitored in Ingolstadt at Audi.