Lewis Hamilton eclipsed Ferrari’s Q3 time from the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix as he completed his second half-day of pre-season testing behind the wheel of the all-new SF-25 on Thursday.

The seven-time World Champion beat his former Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 0.399s on a morning in which Liam Lawson managed just 28 laps as Red Bull suffered a water pressure issue with the RB21.

F1 testing 2025: Lewis Hamilton sets the pace on Thursday morning

Limited to just three days of running, the Formula 1 teams cast a wary eye up to the sky as they arrived at the Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday morning under gloomy grey skies.

Reporting a drop or three on their visors, Carlos Sainz couldn’t blame the gloom as he pulled away from end of the pit lane in a practice as Liam Lawson was leaving the pits. Brakes and a slight jink to the left, and he avoided contact with the Williams driver.

As the 10 drivers laid down the laps, all but Oscar Piastri setting a lap time in the opening hour, it was Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari who went fastest.

The seven-time World Champ clocked a 1:30.080, the fastest time of pre-season testing. He posted that time on the C3 tyres with Sainz just 0.072 on the C2s. George Russell, also on the C3s, was a further two-tenths back.

One hour and 16 laps into the first session, Lewis currently sits on top of the timesheets ⏳ pic.twitter.com/XbYCUYdM13

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 27, 2025

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A few later Russell reported to Mercedes: “Spitting quite a bit more now.” That was followed shortly after by Hamilton telling Ferrari: “It’s wet, it’s raining quite a bit more now.”

The drivers returned to their respective garages as the rain grew steadily heavier. Suddenly Aston Martin and Haas’ decision to ask for wet-weather tyres amongst their allocation from Pirelli looked a very good decision.

Haas didn’t waste any time bolting a set of the intermediates onto Esteban Ocon’s VF-25 and sending him back out. The team took to social media to land one…

Where’s everyone else at on track? 🤔 Forget your inters did you? 👀#HaasF1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/WIxozJzsHM

— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) February 27, 2025

Aston Martin was the only other team to have wet tyres available but Fernando Alonso did not join Ocon on track due to a reported mechanical problem with the AMR25.

The rain and lack of running meant Hamilton finished the second hours still in P1 while Piastri remained without a lap time.

As the rain eased up Russell was the first to venture out before the rest of the field joined him out on track and Piastri finally made his mark, although some 2.6s off the pace. Russell upped his pace to edge ahead of Hamilton only for the Ferrari driver to hit back with a 1:29.675.

He lowered that to a 1:29.379 to pull half a second clear of his compatriot before Russell pulled back a tenth.

One driver not in the running for P1 was Lawson who fell to sixth as he was stuck in the pits as his Red Bull mechanics worked to resolve a water pressure issue.

Red Bull confirmed to PlanetF1.com’s man on the ground Thomas Maher: “Loss of engine water pressure. Working on rectifying that at the moment and then we will be back out.”

There was also a bit of late drama for Hulkenberg and Piastri as they got a little too close for comfort at Turn 8 but managed to avoid notable contact.

Hamilton finished the morning quickest of all with the 1:29.379, Russell was 0.399s down with Carlos Sainz third, a further three-tenths off the pace. Pierre Gasly, Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top six with Lawson falling to eighth.

F1 testing 2025: Timesheet after Day 2 morning session

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:29.379 45 laps
2 George Russell Mercedes +0.399 71 laps
3 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.711 44 laps
4 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.051 40 laps
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.321 45 laps
6 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +1.414 46 laps
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1.442 44 laps
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull Racing +1.854 28 laps
9 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +2.078 56 laps
10 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +3.692 69

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