The first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain finally gave fans the chance to see every team’s 2025 challenger running on track for the first time.
The biggest change in the paddock over the winter took place at Ferrari with Carlos Sainz leaving the team to make way for Lewis Hamilton.
After a frustrating final few seasons at Mercedes, Hamilton will hope that the Scuderia give him the opportunity to challenge for a record eighth title.
George Russell has explained the feeling at Mercedes since Hamilton’s departure, with the Silver Arrows adapting to 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli stepping into the Brit’s shoes.
It means that both Ferrari and Mercedes are adapting to working alongside new drivers as well as studying their new cars, with Ferrari hoping to go one better than 2025 and win their first title in 17 years.
Hamilton’s body language suggests he’s delighted to be at Ferrari but that could quickly change if the SF-25 isn’t as competitive as he would like.
He’s also got to compete with Charles Leclerc who has the advantage of knowing the team and the car much better than Hamilton at this stage.
The rest of the paddock have been closely studying Ferrari’s new car and speaking to The Race, journalists Matt Beer and Glenn Freeman have shared what the rest of the grid are saying about Ferrari’s 2025 car.
Mercedes insiders give their verdict on Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 Ferrari F1 car
Beer was reflecting on the start of Hamilton’s Ferrari career and said: “Everything we’ve heard on and off-record from around Hamilton and Ferrari’s world in the last three or four weeks has been, this is real, this is positive, he comes across as refreshed and the reports from inside the team are very much along those lines as well.
“I think the only way that could have gone wrong on the first day of testing would have been if the Ferrari was suddenly obviously ill-handling or something had cropped up that seemed unexpected.
“But no change as far as we can see. Hamilton’s quite a way down the time sheets today, but he ran in the first session, I can’t imagine the plan was ever for him to do some ballistic, super-fast lap time on day one in front of everyone.”
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
Freeman continued and shared more details on the feeling within the paddock about Ferrari’s new car: “I’d expect in a qualifying head-to-head for Leclerc to outperform Lewis.
“I won’t give away too much but there were a few whispers that Scott [Mitchell-Malm] and Edd [Straw] were picking up in the paddock that a few people at Mercedes were going, ‘Oh, we don’t think the Ferrari’s very good’.
“And we were wondering if they were just trying to wind people up or maybe wishing thinking on Mercedes’ part that Lewis goes to Ferrari just as Ferrari gets a little bit lost.
“But at the same time, the Mercedes insiders seem pretty happy with their day.”
Helmut Marko agrees with Mercedes insiders on Ferrari’s new Formula 1 car
Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko was speaking to the press in Bahrain, via Motorsport, about the first day of testing and explained: “McLaren was very consistent and fast. The same can be said for Mercedes.
“Ferrari was a bit disappointing, we expected more from them, but anyway, there are still two days left.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about Mercedes F1 Team from team principal to lineage
The Red Bull chief was also asked about his team’s 2025 challenger and said: “The car is more predictable and reacts normally. All the problems we had last year have improved a lot or even been solved.”
The difficult conditions did not hurt Red Bull that much in this respect: “The wind was treacherous in the morning and that made it a bit more difficult.
“Of course, we also had no light for a while, and it was much colder, which is probably why Mercedes was so fast as well.”
Bernie Collins spotted a worrying trend in Hamilton’s data but it’s impossible to know exactly what Ferrari were looking for from the 40-year-old’s first long run in the car.
It’ll be interesting to see if he’s allowed to push during the final two days in Bahrain or if they’ll save his qualifying runs for the Australian Grand Prix.
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