BAHRAIN — Life, goes the saying, begins at 40 and Lewis Hamilton aptly branded his start at Ferrari “a new life” just weeks after his milestone birthday.
Wednesday marked his first proper run for the team after ending his career-long association with Mercedes from his junior days through McLaren and then Mercedes to join Ferrari more than a year ago.
Hamilton took the morning stint in the SF25 before handing over to new teammate Charles Leclerc for a latter session, which was curtailed by an hour by a total blackout at the Bahrain International Circuit late in the day.
Following a first proper outing in the new car, Matt Majendie assesses the seven-time world champion’s start in Ferrari’s colours.
An initial glance at the timesheets would suggest he was well off the pace in 12th place come the end of some eight hours of running on day one of the three-day test.
But it is notoriously difficult in testing to judge a driver or a team’s pace relative to the rest of the grid.
Every driver and team have completely different programmes for each day and much of the early part of Hamilton’s session was spent getting the car in the right specification for Bahrain for both him and Leclerc following a winter of alterations.
The biggest win is arguably the fact he completed well over the Bahrain Grand Prix race distance during the day. In all, he drove 70 laps of the track – the equivalent to 235 miles – without any major reliability issues for the car’s first proper test for either driver following just a handful of laps in this year’s car for a recent filming day in Fiorano.
Another is the new-found spring in his step. Barely a month has passed since he first officially stepped into Ferrari headquarters for his new role and, for all his outpouring of love and emotion towards his former team, it was clear he had become frustrated.
Speaking of the Ferrari effect, he said: “I just felt this new wave of life and energy. What I know is that the testing is more limited than ever before but fortunately I’ve had a good bit of time in the car.”
Lewis 🤜🤛 SF-25Ride onboard with the seven-time world champ in his first session as a @ScuderiaFerrari driver 👊 #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/EK8piNq6US— Formula 1 (@F1)
Perhaps the biggest is the fact testing is so limited in F1’s new era of the cost cap. Having spent 12 years at the Mercedes works team, it is a complete shift at Ferrari with the design, feel and philosophy of the car.
As he put it: “What I know is that the testing is more limited than ever before but fortunately I’ve had a good bit of time in the car.”
Before now, that’s just been in older specifications of it: initially the 2023 version at Fiorano and then Barcelona before a run in last year’s car.
It would be harsh to fixate too much on the day’s on-track frailties but there were a handful of moments where it was clear he was either pushing the limitations of the car or else simply struggling with its inherent handling.
There was a notable foray into the gravel trap at turn four, he went wide at turn 10 later in his run, had a lock-up at turn eight and seemed to struggle with the rear at turn 11.
Hamilton caused a seismic shock when he announced his decision around about this time last year to quit Mercedes and make a cross-grid switch to Ferrari, the thinking being the Italian manufacturer gave him the better possibility of the eighth world title he so craves and which still keeps him in the sport.
There was a sense of irony then perhaps that the man who replaced him at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli, should top the timesheets in the earlier of the two sessions eclipsing Hamilton by half a second.
Antonelli was just a few months old when Hamilton took part in his rookie season in the sport and only recently passed his driving test.
Hamilton, despite all his obvious talent and experience, was never going to get up to speed immediately. But in a sport that, when stripped down, is essentially a numbers game, he ended the eight hours of running – four apiece for the two Ferrari drivers – a second behind Leclerc.
Neither Hamilton nor his new employers will be unduly concerned by such a time deficit at this stage.
The pair have only occasionally brushed shoulders in Bahrain but clearly the rapport is already good. Rather than being threatened by the arrival of the most successful driver in Formula One history, Leclerc seems to have been revitalised.
And already the competition off track has been strong. Keen chess players, Leclerc revealed a 3-2 deficit to his new teammate in their head-to-heads on the board. There is talk of a rematch in the desert if time allows. As for the on-track duel, Leclerc has taken an early 1-0 lead.
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