Watching trackside in Friday practice for the first round of the 2025 Formula 1 season can’t tell the whole story, but it’s a significant step in the process of zeroing in on the car characteristics and therefore the most meaningly tale weaved on track so far.

The usual caveats about fuel loads and engine modes apply but, with everyone running similar programmes across the two one-hour sessions on Friday at the Australian Grand Prix, it’s the most fair comparison we’ve had.

Splitting the sessions into watching at a quick corner – the Turn 6/7 right/left in FP1 – and a slow one – the Turn 13 left-hander that leads directly into the final right-hander in FP2 – offered the best chance to judge the cars across a range of speeds.

Here’s how the 10 cars looked to the eye, judged purely on what was visible from trackside.

McLaren

The McLaren MCL39 continues to be the car of choice, primarily because it’s doing everything you would want an F1 car to do.

The front end is strong, it rotates well, has the grip to allow the drivers to get the power down decisively and, most importantly, save for Norris having a small bite of the gravel exiting Turn 12, never seemed to do anything untoward.

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Given the questions over the rear end in Bahrain, the fact the car is responding so well on turn in but isn’t suffering from much rear sliding mid-corner is particularly impressive. That suggests that perhaps the McLaren has a fraction more in hand than its rivals.

Judged purely on Friday’s limited snapshot, Lando Norris should win a dry grand prix with a handy margin – with team-mate Oscar Piastri looking just a fraction less on top of the car.

Ferrari

The Ferrari, particularly in Charles Leclerc’s hands given team-mate Lewis Hamilton is visibly not quite as on top of the car, consistently looks strong – until it doesn’t.

By that, I mean that unlike the McLaren there are occasions when a hint of a limitation breaks through: a touch of instability at turn-in to a slow corner, the struggle to get the car rotated, a flash of understeer, and the fact that even when carrying good speed through Turn 6 it required a more savage change of direction.

All of these are micro-criticisms, but suggest that while the Ferrari is a genuine threat it’s perhaps not quite as confidence-inspiring as the McLaren – unless, of course, it’s all down to further experimentation with the car, in which case Leclerc is a pole position threat.

Red Bull

It was a game of two halves for Red Bull on Friday. At the fast Turn 6, Max Verstappen in particular could carry impressive speed through the fifth gear corner. At the slower Turn 13, it was an altogether different story as it was never possible to get the car to respond as positively as the Ferrari and McLaren.

Watching Liam Lawson also hinted at a touch of rear instability, as on a couple of occasions he had to have two bites at turning in.

The RB21 never looks slow, but there’s still the persistent evidence that achieving a consistent balance across a wide range of corner speeds is a problem and to the eye it looked a step behind the pacesetters.

Mercedes

The Mercedes was perhaps the most consistently spectacular car to watch, and not only because of rookie Kimi Antonelli’s attacking approach.

As in Bahrain, the W16 inspires confidence, but does have its moments. At Turn 13, there were hints of a little more rear sliding than you’d ideally want, while the front locking that occasionally surfaced in Bahrain again showed up when Russell locked up and headed up the Turn 13 escape road after he released the brakes.

But overall, it continues to exhibit the driver-friendly qualities that were evident throughout the Bahrain test.

Aston Martin

Perhaps the most revealing snapshot of the Aston Martin was at Turn 13, with the car struggling for grip and sliding mid-corner and the drivers powerless to do anything other than to wait for it to bite so they could start to feed the power in.

While the claim of improved stability appears justified given the car can be driven relatively consistently, it simply looks light of grip.

That at least means that the downforce is being delivered in a controllable way and the through-corner balance is adequate, but it’s so far yet to look like a car that the drivers can do anything with other than sit just on the right side of its limit.

Alpine

The Alpine looked like less of a threat to Williams than it did in Bahrain, with the tell-tale signs that it was running out of grip earlier suggesting that there’s some work to do overnight.

The car was at least relatively consistent, but mid-corner it simply wasn’t as convincing as the midfield standouts.

What’s more, at fifth-gear Turn 6/7 it’s one of the cars that most often risks getting sucked towards the gravel. Perhaps with a little more wing cranked on for Saturday, those weaknesses will be fixed and it will be back to threatening for a Q3 slot.

Haas

I started the day expecting to see the Haas come alive after a subdued, heavy-fuel pre-season test. However, the car never caught the eye, albeit with the caveat that Ollie Bearman’s FP1 crash meant that we saw less of the Haas than any other car.

It still looks a little understeery, but other than that there are no major vices and that could mean there’s a hike in pace to come with the fuel out come Saturday afternoon.

But across Bahrain and Friday in Australia, the Haas is yet to prove it has the poise or potential pace of the top midfielders.

Racing Bulls

If you were to plot the improvement of Racing Bulls to the eye based on the four days of running so far, it would have the most pleasingly linear trace.

The understeer that was there at times in testing appears to be under control, and while it’s likely still there the drivers are visibly confident in the car – with Isack Hadjar in particular showing a willingness to be aggressive, even if team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the most consistent overall.

Having looked very much the midfield of the midfield in Bahrain, the Racing Bulls is now looking like it is pushing up towards the top of it.

Williams

Of all the cars in the notional midfield, the Williams is the one that most resembles a member of the lead group. Both drivers can attack, usually turn in decisively and get the rotation they need.

While occasionally there’s a slightly bigger traction limitation than the frontrunners in the exit phase, it all points to the Williams being a responsive and consistent car.

Having looked the most impressive of the mid-pack based on trackside observations in Bahrain, it looked the same but with change to spare in Australia.

Sauber

The Sauber started the Bahrain test terribly, and despite improvements still ended it looking comfortably the worst car to drive.

But immediately during FP1 in Melbourne, it looked more convincing to the point where in the early laps doubts were raised about whether it was being flattered by the nature of Turn 6.

But in FP2, again the car looked more convincing – confirming its gone from clearly at the back in Bahrain to looking like it should at least be a proper Q2 contender.

The car still has it moments, with both drivers having snaps on turn-in where the instability was clear, but the Sauber now looks like a credible piece of kit.