Seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, has unveiled that his first day at the Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain with Ferrari was marked by extensive experimentation. Hamilton, who made his maiden appearance for the iconic team during an official F1 event at the Bahrain International Circuit, completed an impressive 70 laps, just one shy of his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton described the testing phase as thrilling, considering it’s the initial opportunity for teams to gauge the potential of their new cars and forecast for the upcoming season. He showed immense excitement over his maiden drive in the SF-25, proclaiming, “Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we’ve already learned a lot.”
Despite the excitement, Hamilton was cautious in making any premature judgments about the car’s performance. He emphasized that the team’s goal was to maximize the value of each run and that there was still more to learn in the coming days. He expressed eagerness to further understand the car and continue testing the next day.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc also had a positive first day in Bahrain. Despite Hamilton finishing just under a second slower than Leclerc on the timing screens, Leclerc warned against reading too much into lap times due to variables such as different set-ups, track conditions, tyre compounds, and fuel loads.
Leclerc, who managed to complete his runs despite a significant red-flag delay caused by a power outage, finished fourth overall on the first day. He attributed his smooth session to the team’s hard work on the SF-25 project over the winter break. However, like Hamilton, Leclerc was cautious about making any predictions, stating, “We’re going to analyse our data from today and make use of what we learn tonight when we start work again tomorrow.”
Ferrari’s testing schedule for the second day is expected to mirror day one’s, with Hamilton starting in the morning and Leclerc taking over in the afternoon. The team ended their first day on a high note, excited about the learning and progress made and looking forward to day two of testing.