While a “great” race stint from Lando Norris caught many pair of eyes at F1 testing, McLaren are not the only rival Lewis Hamilton is keeping watch on.

That is because a race run from former F1 title rival Max Verstappen also made him sit up and take notice, Hamilton expecting McLaren and Red Bull to pose a serious threat in F1 2025.

Lewis Hamilton highlights McLaren and Red Bull threat

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

For Hamilton, F1 2025 testing in Bahrain offered him precious time to continue his adaptation to Ferrari, the seven-time World Champion having made the blockbuster move from Mercedes on a multi-year deal.

With Charles Leclerc as his team-mate, Ferrari go into F1 2025 with title glory on the agenda, Hamilton chasing that eighth World Championship which would see him move clear of Michael Schumacher as the single most successful F1 driver in terms of titles. Hamilton already holds records such as most grand prix wins (105), poles (104) and podiums (202).

But, Hamilton is expecting fierce competition from McLaren and Red Bull in that mission.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is regarded by many in the F1 paddock as F1 2025 title favourite, having put the pressure on Verstappen last season who went on to secure a fourth straight Drivers’ title.

Norris’ race simulation in the McLaren MCL39 on Day 2 of testing only further strengthened that view, the Brit comfortably up on Leclerc in the Ferrari on his race run, though testing times cannot always be taken at face value.

But, speaking ahead of his final test session in the Ferrari SF-25 on the afternoon of Day 3, Hamilton told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “Obviously, it’s a lot hotter today, but yeah, the McLaren did a great run yesterday.

“And I think also Max did a decent one today, given that even with the temperatures.

“It’s hard to know what fuel loads everyone is running, as we’re all doing different, our own programmes, so you have to take everything with a pinch of salt.

“But yeah, I mean, they won the Constructors’ last year. We expect them to be one of the quickest, if not the quickest, as with Red Bull, who have dominated for many, many years.

“So for us, we’re just trying to improve on… I haven’t even done the long run yet, so I’m about to do it this afternoon, and I’ll get a bit of a better understanding of how this car behaves in a race stint.

“It’s going to be my first race stint with the team, so I’ve only done short runs of like 10 laps, so it’ll be interesting. We’ve definitely got some work to do to improve.”

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That being said, Hamilton’s gut feeling going into his first season with Ferrari is a positive one.

“I think that probably, in the last four years or so, I’ve learned that you really can’t judge too much from the first outlook,” he said.

“I definitely think in the past years before that, particularly in the previous generation of cars, it was much easier to know where you stood quite early on with that early feeling.

“I would say this is the most positive feeling that I’ve had in a long time. That’s all I can really say for now.”

We do not have long to wait until the F1 2025 campaign gets underway, with the Australian Grand Prix kicking-off a 24-round season on March 16.

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