Lewis Hamilton has now completed two of his three sessions during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
After watching Andrea Kimi Antonelli in his old Mercedes top the time sheets during his first session on Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton set a time nearly four-tenths quicker than George Russell on Thursday before stepping out of the car.
It’s impossible to know the exact details of every driver’s run plan during testing, but Hamilton will likely enjoy a small confidence boost knowing he’s come out on top of his old team.
For the first time since 2013, Hamilton has been getting used to new surroundings during testing, with his long-awaited move to Ferrari finally taking shape.
He’s completed runs in different Ferraris over the past few weeks, with Hamilton amazing fans at Fiorano at the end of January before taking part in private testing in Barcelona and a Pirelli tyre test in last year’s car.
All of this has led to the seven-time world champion completing 12 hours of running over three days in Bahrain before jetting off to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.
Another man who knows all about testing is David Coulthard, who was still on the grid when Hamilton made his McLaren debut back in 2007.
He was speaking about testing on the Formula For Success Podcast and outlined something he knows Hamilton will be desperate to do before leaving the track.
David Coulthard insists Lewis Hamilton will want to do Ferrari qualifying run before leaving testing
Previewing the only pre-season test of the 2025 season, Coulthard said: “Pre-season testing, this is where people start to get a feel for who’s hot, who’s not.
“For the teams, I guess the most visible thing to the public is who’s reliable and who’s not because as you have mentioned you don’t know where people are in terms of fuel level and engine mode.
“But I guess there must be an element of similarity to the three days of testing, a day and a half each for the drivers they’re going to want to do long runs, they’re going to want to do some form of slightly lower fuel.
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“Especially I would have thought the new drivers to teams and by that Lewis Hamilton at your old team Ferrari, he’s a very experienced driver, but he must have that little, I just want to see how far I can push this car.
“So, surely by the time we come out of Bahrain, we’ll have a reasonable picture of what the sort of running order might be.”
What Mercedes insiders think about Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 Ferrari
Although Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff wished Hamilton the best of luck after his final race for the team in Abu Dhabi, he’ll be desperate to prove to the 40-year-old that he made the wrong decision.
While Hamilton may have been getting frustrated with Mercedes’ lack of competitiveness, there was also an emotional draw towards Ferrari for him as well as wanting to compete for an eighth world championship.
Mercedes are expected to have the best engine in 2026, meaning Hamilton may have to top the standings in his first year as a Ferrari driver to break Michael Schumacher’s record.
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Mercedes insiders aren’t convinced by Hamilton’s car yet and Helmut Marko agrees that he was a little bit ‘disappointed’ with their first day of running.
It’s unlikely that any team has revealed their full potential yet and last season’s champions McLaren have been holding their cards very close to their chest up to this point.
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