Lewis Hamilton said it was an “incredible feeling” to commence his first Formula 1 campaign with Ferrari during Day 1 of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Hamilton finished the first day of testing 13th in the standings but the order matters little during these non-competitive sessions.
With fuel loads and run plans unknown from team to team, the importance of testing comes from data gathering and each team learning about the package rolling out of the garage and onto the Bahrain International Circuit.
“Testing is always exciting,” Hamilton told F1 on Wednesday evening after 70 laps of running in the morning session. “It’s the first time you get to see what everyone has been developing and can start to get a feel for your own car and the year ahead. Being here with Scuderia Ferrari HP and in the SF-25 for the first time is an incredible feeling. Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we’ve already learned a lot.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who completed 71 laps in the evening session, fared better in the final standings, winding up fourth.
“It’s always a positive to have a smooth session without anything unexpected happening in terms of your run plan, although of course, it’s still too early to come to any conclusions about our performance,” said Leclerc. “We’re going to analyse our data from today and make use of what we learn tonight when we start work again tomorrow.”
McLaren and Norris on top
McLaren’s Lando Norris started 2025 where he ended the final race of last year, on top, fastest on the Day 1 timesheets at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Although being fastest in testing means little at this stage, Norris was still pleased with the day’s work.
“It’s nice to be back in the car! A big shout-out to the team for getting everything ready and prepared for today,” said Norris. “It was a good, fun day on track, and we progressed through a lot of the tests that we wanted to do. I’m looking forward to pushing the car a bit more over the next couple of days.”
Rookies begin maiden F1 campaigns
Attention on Day 1 in Bahrain was also on the five rookies that make up a quarter of this year’s F1 grid.
“I really enjoyed getting behind the wheel of the W16 and working through our programme,” said Mercedes’ 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who went seventh fastest on the day. “It was nice to start to build my feeling with the car and get some laps under our belt. We completed our programme but there is a lot more work to get through over the next two days so I can’t wait to get back on track tomorrow.”
Haas’ Oliver Bearman said “We got through the entire run plan as we wanted to, and the results were as expected – as we’ve been learning about the car and its characteristics. I’m now looking forward to testing the limits over the next two days.”
After 68 laps in the Alpine A525 on Wednesday morning, Jack Doohan said “I enjoyed being in the car and really having a good feel for everything across various set-ups and compounds. A massive thank you to the whole team at Enstone and Viry for their work over the winter and having the car ready and prepared for this test. I’ll be supporting the team and watching closely in the morning before I am back in the car tomorrow afternoon looking to continue working through the programme.”
Reigning F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto wound up 12th fastest for Sauber and revealed that “Towards the end, we had some fresh sets of tyres to push a little and have some fun. Overall, I’m quite happy with what we achieved today. After the first day, there is always a lot to learn and improve. It’s just the beginning, and I am eager to be back in the car tomorrow.”
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar said “It was fun” to be out on track in Bahrain. “We got through our programme and I felt comfortable in the car,” he said. “Of course, this is just the start so there is plenty to do, I would say particularly on the short runs.” After finishing 11th on the timesheets, one place behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, Hadjar concluded “For a first official test day for me, I think it went fine and I adapted quickly, so I’d say it was a good first day.”
READ MORE – F1 2025 Pre-Season Testing Results – Wednesday PM
