Williams tipped to join F1 2025 title contenders in MAJOR grid shakeup

Williams team ahead of 2025 season — Photo: © IMAGO

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Williams tipped to join F1 2025 title contenders in MAJOR grid shakeup

Pre-season testing in Bahrain gave us an insight into the 2025 pecking order

By Sheona Mountford.

Sunday 2 March 2025 18:00

Williams have been tipped to be in the mix at the front of the 2025 Formula 1 field by one team chief.

With Bahrain testing now over, we have somewhat of an idea of how the competitive order looks ahead of the season opener in Australia later this month.

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However, testing times always come with the caveat that some teams are hiding their true pace, or not fully showing their hand.

That said, one team in particular did stand out as having made a big improvement from the end of 2024 to the start of 2025 — Williams.

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"We've always talked about the top four recently," Stella explained at testing.

"But maybe we need to adapt our language again this year. That would be the top five or top six. There certainly seem to be some fast cars out there."

Stella’s comments are based on Williams' performance on their fast laps, an indicator of qualifying pace, where Carlos Sainz set the best time on day two with a 1:29.348s.

"We see that there are some cars that manage very competitive lap times with little fuel on board, that's clear from the data," Stella added.

Lewis Hamilton F1 Christian Horner Toto Wolff Williams Bahrain