F1 2025 pre-season testing: McLaren impressive and Lewis Hamilton positive

Mercedes ' George Russell ended the final day with the fastest time, just 0.021 seconds quicker than Red Bull's Max Verstappen .

Best lap of the entire test was set by Carlos Sainz , following his switch to Williams from Ferrari to make way for Lewis Hamilton .

But there seemed enough evidence to suggest that McLaren , who last year won their first constructors' title since 1998 , have a definitive advantage over a single lap.

Red Bull's Verstappen was fastest of all for a period on Friday afternoon , until Russell pipped him with six minutes to go.

Red Bull did not do a full race simulation on Friday , and the car lacked front grip in some places, rear grip in others.

Williams 's Sainz 's fastest time came a qualifying simulation, and a similar run on Friday put team-mate Alex Albon fastest.

Williams looked in decent shape judging by the headline lap times.

Aston Martin and Alpine are best of the rest, followed by Williams , Racing Bulls and Haas .

But form is likely to fluctuate race to race, with form likely to change race-to-the-race.