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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton has had his first taste of driving the team’s 2026 Formula 1 car in Bahrain during the opening morning of pre-season testing.
The Bahrain International Circuit is playing host to six days of testing before heading to the Australian Grand Prix, and Lewis Hamilton had the honour of getting Ferrari’s running underway.
Hamilton shared testing duties with teammate Charles Leclerc on day one in Bahrain, completing 55 laps during his stint in the SF-26.
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The seven-time world champion didn’t have the simplest start to the session, with Hamilton spotted ‘struggling’ with the car’s braking, although this wasn’t an issue exclusive to the 41-year-old.
After jumping out of the car and handing over the reins to Leclerc, Hamilton provided an update on how the SF-25 felt and the initial issues he came across.
The seven-time world champion is making plenty of positive sounds, but wasn’t happy about the conditions he had to deal with.
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Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari’s F1 car was ‘all over the place’ in Bahrain due to crosswinds
Hamilton was asked in an interview with Sky Italy if the car was responding how he would like it to after completing his first run in Bahrain.
He said: “Yes, I think it’s just because of the way the track is at the moment. It’s very dirty, dusty and humid.
“There’s a crosswind coming; you can also see the flying flags.
“[There was a] big tailwind into turn 1, turn 4 feels great, turn 6, 7 feels completely different between the two.
“[Turn] eight is OK, 10, [I] can’t stop the car. So, it’s just all over the place.”
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Asked about the comparison of his time to the rest of the field, the seven-time world champion continued: “You don’t know what fuel loads [everybody] is on, you don’t know what engine modes anybody is on.
“So, at the moment, we’re just focusing on trying to learn as much as we can and get through the issues that we have, but I’m happy to see the team is super focused and doing a lot of good running.
“I’m grateful to have been a part of the development of this car, and these next couple of tests, I’ll see some of [the things] I asked for last year, so I’m [happy] those have been implemented into [the car].”
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Lewis Hamilton makes ‘slower than GP2’ suggestion ahead initial Ferrari test
In the morning session that Hamilton completed, Max Verstappen set the benchmark time.
The Red Bull driver looked rapid down the straights compared to his rivals, and his 1:35.433 was 0.169 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Oscar Piastri, despite setting the lap on a set of harder tyres than the McLaren driver.
It’s far too soon to draw conclusions based on lap times alone, but that will have put the Mercedes-powered teams on alert, considering the talk throughout pre-season has been that they would have an advantage over the rest of the field.
Ferrari have already privately voiced concerns over Mercedes’ engines, but Hamilton has made some interesting comments about the 2026 cars in general.
The new regulations have seen widespread changes made over the winter break, and in his official media session after the first morning of running, Hamilton claimed, “I think we’re slower than GP2 right now, right? It does feel like that.”
Ferrari will be under no illusions about how important it is to keep Hamilton and Leclerc happy after a disastrous 2025 campaign.
However, if the regulations take the joy out of F1 for their star driver, then convincing him to remain on the grid beyond this season might not be easy.
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