Helmut Marko did not look particularly worried when he studied the second table of the second test day in Bahrain on Thursday evening. The deficit from Red Bull was almost a second to the best time of the day, “but Max did not drive today” (but “only” Liam Lawson). But the Austrian admits: “Ferrari looked very competitive.”
Superstar Lewis Hamilton, who sucks up every kilometer in his new team like a dry sponge, was on day 2 in the morning. In the end, he was just 45 laps for him because an interim rain shower chipped part of his travel time. Nevertheless, he stayed 0.052 seconds ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc and finished second, with 0.031 seconds behind Carlos Sainz (Williams).
But the first real racing simulations that were completed in the afternoon were more meaningful than the time table of day 2. Leclerc first tried qualifying, then a complete race including two pit stops. In his three stints he drove the tire mixtures C3, C2 and C1 from Pirelli.
Longrun with throttled powerunite?
The data evaluation, powered by paceeteq, shows that Leclerc was almost half a second slower than Lando Norris in the McLaren, and approximately at eye level with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Mercedes. More than half of the deficit, Ferrari came up in the first sector, which mainly consists of straight -wing exchange. What, the Ferrari fans hope, could indicate a throttled powerunite.
“Since the conditions changed constantly today, it was difficult to draw clear conclusions,” Leclerc does not yet want to attach too much importance to the second day of winter tests. He announces: “Tonight we concentrate fully on the analysis of the data collected in order to prepare ourselves for the last day of the test.”
This is expected to be used to enable Hamilton the chance of a complete Grand Prix simulation. In the morning the seven -time world champion was the absolute fastest in the field. However, the absolute best times are always difficult during test drives due to the possibly very different petrol amounts.
Hamilton: First changes to the set-up made
It is still early, says Hamilton, “but I really enjoy the car. We are slowly friends.” In his view, the test start on Wednesday was slowly warm up: “I haven’t changed anything on the set-up or something, but only tried to get used to the car. Today I have already interacted a little more with the engineer.”
“At the moment there is still a lot that we have to find out. I can do it a little better with every round. All the settings are completely different. Even braking balance and supposedly banal things are very different than I got used to from my previous team. Now I have to acquire how this car wants to be driven.”
Because: that is “different” than at the Mercedes, says Hamilton, but emphasizes in the same breath that he can already feel the car well under his butt. And: “It reacts to my entries. From this point of view, it was a good day today, with incremental steps on the set-up. But we still have a little bit of work in front of us.”
Vasseur: steering wheel “like a nuclear power plant”
They are even supposed little things that Hamilton has to prepare for after twelve years at Mercedes. Team boss Frederic Vasseur underlines that the previous tests in older Ferrari models were helpful. But an official test in the SF-25, with which Hamilton will contest the 2025 season, is something else.
The steering wheel, for example, is complex “like a nuclear power plant”, grins in an interview with Canal+: “You have to cope with all the buttons, with the software and also with people. We have 1,500 people. The ones with whom he works immediately have to get to know, and we have to build these relationships. It takes a bit.”
“Lewis spent a lot of time in the factory to meet people,” says Vasseur, laughing that winter felt “like honeymoon”. Hamilton is “good for the team, good for Formula 1, and he brings a fresh air to us. I don’t want to compare it with Carlos, with whom I still get on very well. But someone with Lewis’ experience then brings a somewhat new look at what we do.”
Ferrari President personally in Bahrain
By the way, Hamilton’s largest fan, Ferrari President John Elkann, arrived in Bahrain on Thursday. Elkann is the man who brought Hamilton to Ferrari. And one who doesn’t look too often on the race track. When the boss comes, it has a strong symbolic effect. And should Hamilton feel the feeling of being important for the Ferrari brand.
Hamilton states: “How something does something starts is often very important. The past month could not have been better. Every day was really important, and it was about building up the foundations. And even if we tried to put as much time as possible in as little time, we haven’t overthrown.”
“We took the time that we need, but at the same time we did many overtime. That is what we are here, isn’t it true, I am sure that it will be worth it – the focus, the communication, the changes we have made. But in the next six to eight months there will also be a lot. It feels seamless. I feel at home here.”
Even with Leclerc, who is something like the natural rival in his own house as a teammate, Hamilton has so far become splendid. But team boss Vasseur already expects that it will not stay that way forever: “It is always easy to have a good atmosphere by the first Grand Prix. If there was already war, I would have to change my job,” laughs the Frenchman.
“Everything is going very well at the moment,” he says. “They get along well, work well. I think they had enough time to get used to the idea that they are now teammates. We announced this a year ago, and they were able to get to know each other without being direct competitors.”