Lewis Hamilton closed the gap to Charles Leclerc in testing after Ferrari listened to his feedback

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Charles Leclerc might have set the fastest time during Bahrain pre-season testing, but Lewis Hamilton will be full of confidence heading into the 2026 F1 campaign.

Ferrari have stood out as one of the teams to beat during testing, with their race starts in particular catching the eye.

David Croft described Lewis Hamilton as a ‘rocket’ after watching his launches off the line as the FIA tried to ease fears about race starts.

Charles Leclerc was the Ferrari driver to beat last season, finishing 86 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship.

The hope is that the 2026 regulations will give Hamilton the boost he needs after never fully unlocking the performance of the ground-effect cars.

After watching testing in Bahrain, journalists Edd Straw and Samarth Kanal noticed an improvement in Hamilton across the two weeks that suggests Ferrari have started to take his feedback on board.

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Lewis Hamilton has closed the gap ‘massively’ to Charles Leclerc during Bahrain testing

Speaking on The Race F1 Podcast, Straw was reflecting on Ferrari’s performance in testing and explained: “Charles Leclerc was quickest by eight tenths with a lap set towards the end of today.

“The car just looks so responsive and sharp on track. It’s really interesting because the car at the start of Bahrain testing, it looked pretty good. It didn’t look like it was struggling like say Mercedes did initially, but it had weaknesses, their instabilities and it’s just got better and better and better and better and better.

“It looked really, really lively on track and in a good way. It’s responsive, it’s turning in, they’re carrying the speed, they’re getting that punch off the corners.

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“Watching it down at turn 10 when Leclerc was doing his quick laps, this is very, very positive for Ferrari, even though P1 in testing doesn’t appear to translate to being the outright best on performance, but they are thereabouts.”

Kanal responded: “It’s nice to have that headline figure. You can put that aside for a second; it really does look compliant, and one of the things I’m thinking is that it will benefit Lewis Hamilton quite a lot.

“This is the car that he kind of wanted, and he looks more comfortable in it.”

Straw concluded: “He’s looked more and more [comfortable] because there was a big mark difference early on in testing, but again that gap’s closed massively to Leclerc, so Hamilton looks like he’s in a good place.”

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Ferrari already planning on car changes ahead of the 2026 Australian Grand Prix

One of the most interesting aspects of pre-season testing has been reviewing the different approaches of teams up and down the paddock.

McLaren have stuck with largely the same design throughout testing to try and optimise the package that they’ve created.

However, Ferrari have experimented far more than most, with a radical rear wing design catching the eye during the final days of running in Bahrain.

It looks like Ferrari are set to shelve their reversible rear wing before the Australian Grand Prix, but that doesn’t mean it might not return later in the campaign.

This can only be good news for Hamilton, as it shows Ferrari are far more willing to be flexible with the demands of their drivers.

Leclerc was ‘on the absolute limit’ when he set his fastest lap in Bahrain, according to Jolyon Palmer, whereas Hamilton was never seen pushing to that same level.

Beating the Monegasque driver in qualifying in Melbourne won’t be easy for the seven-time world champion, given his expertise in that area, but Hamilton’s race pace looked very encouraging during pre-season testing.