Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the morning session on day two of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Hamilton set a 1:29.379 on the C3 tyres, outpacing former teammate George Russell by just under four-tenths of a second.
Charles Leclerc replaced Hamilton after lunch, with Ferrari set to split their programme once again on the final day. The most representative qualifying simulations are still to come.
Teams constantly emphasise that fuel loads and engine modes differ in testing, making it hard to establish the pecking order. But the onboard footage can be more revealing.
It shows whether a car’s handling is fundamentally sound, and whether a driver is comfortable behind the wheel. Hamilton spent much of 2024 wrestling with his enigmatic Mercedes car.
In the right conditions, the Silver Arrows were the fastest on track. They took pole position in Canada, Great Britain, Qatar and Las Vegas.
However, Hamilton also failed to reach Q3 at a quarter of the races. That was a reflection of the car’s unpredictability, which appeared to have psychological repercussions on its superstar driver.
Karun Chandhok sees Lewis Hamilton ‘manipulating’ his Ferrari – but also spies a problem
Speaking during the live coverage of testing, Karun Chandhok offered his verdict on Hamilton’s pace-setting lap. He’s already seen an improvement from one day to the next.
That bodes well for the Briton’s collaboration with his new engineers. Hamilton has noted a big difference in Ferrari’s communication style after 12 years at Mercedes.
Chandhok says the seven-time world champion looked in control from the cockpit, driving the car proactively rather than reactively. That bodes well for his supporters.
The former Lotus driver did raise one possible concern relating to ride quality. It’s unclear what impact that might have on performance.
“Yesterday it just looked like the front of the car wasn’t quite there for Lewis, but today it certainly looked like, while the circuit has improved and everyone is going a second quicker, he had a car underneath him that he could turn and manipulate a corner like he wants,” Chandhok said.
“I think that’s an encouraging sign for him and his legion of fans out there, who really want him to succeed at Ferrari.
“The only thing I will say is that the ride quality doesn’t look as comfortable as you’d like. We saw last year Ferrari had the bouncing when they introduced the floor.”
Ted Kravitz’s ‘peculiar’ observation about Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari F1 car
Sky Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher says Hamilton ‘can’t cope’ with a nervous rear end. He lost 19-5 to Russell in the Mercedes Saturday head-to-head last year.
His confidence in his qualifying ability may be brittle right now, so it’s important he establishes trust in the SF-25. It wouldn’t be disastrous by any means if he started behind Leclerc in Australia, given that he’s still adapting, but the margin will be most telling.
External observers will inevitably compare their lap times in Bahrain, poring over the first publicly available data. But that certainly won’t be the focus at Ferrari.
Ted Kravitz noticed a ‘peculiar’ aero probe on Hamilton’s car as the team examined the air flow to the floor. Testing is, after all, primarily a data-gathering exercise.
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