Lewis Hamilton said it was an “incredible feeling” to go testing in the Ferrari SF-25 on Wednesday, as he and Charles Leclerc shared driving duties.

Hamilton completed 70 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit in the morning session on Day 1, clocking a 1:31.834 as he took in longer than a race distance for his new team.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc share verdict after first day of SF-25 running

While McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the timesheets from the first day of testing in Bahrain, there is little to be read into the competitive order at this stage given fuel loads and engine modes are unknown during testing.

Having already taken in testing in previous Ferrari models and a filming day in the 2025 car, this was the first opportunity the Ferrari duo – and the rest of the grid – had to drive their new cars on representative tyres and fuel loads for the new season.

With both drivers getting plenty of laps under their belt on the first day, they were left with a positive first impression of the new Ferrari.

“Testing is always exciting,” Hamilton said after his morning of running.

“It’s the first time you get to see what everyone has been developing and can start to get a feel for your own car and the year ahead.

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“Being here with Scuderia Ferrari HP and in the SF-25 for the first time is an incredible feeling. 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.

“It’s too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good and as a team we’re working on the best way to optimise each run.

“There’s more to do over the next few days to get through our programme and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now I’m looking forward to getting out there again.”

Leclerc took on driving duties in the afternoon session, and the Ferrari pair will take on the same roles again on Thursday, with Hamilton set for the first driving stint of the day before his team-mate takes over.

Leclerc said of his afternoon and evening session, having completed 71 laps of his own: “It feels good to be back on track. The whole team put a lot of effort into the SF-25 project over the winter break, so it’s exciting to finally get down to work with it.

“It’s always a positive to have a smooth session without anything unexpected happening in terms of your run plan, although of course, it’s still too early to come to any conclusions about our performance.”

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