February 27, (THEWILL) – Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest time for Ferrari during Thursday morning’s pre-season Formula One testing in Bahrain. The seven-time world champion, who joined Ferrari after departing Mercedes, completed 45 laps with a best time of one minute 29.379 seconds at the Sakhir circuit, despite light rain interruptions.
Ferrari chairman, John Elkann, was present to observe Hamilton’s performance, with the Italian team aiming to improve on their second-place finish last season. Ferrari has not won a championship since 2008, but hopes are high for the upcoming campaign. Former Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, whom Hamilton replaced, finished third fastest while driving for Williams.
George Russell, now Mercedes’ lead driver, following Hamilton’s exit, recorded the second-fastest time, 0.399 seconds behind Hamilton after completing 71 laps. Pierre Gasly placed fourth for Alpine, followed by Fernando Alonso in fifth for Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda sixth for Racing Bulls. Oscar Piastri finished seventh for McLaren after making contact with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber in an unusual testing collision.
McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, expressed satisfaction with their car’s development, saying: “We have good innovation on the car. We have not stood still in the winter and I am excited to see it all work. So far so good but it’s obviously early days.” Brown also mentioned that certain features of their car had not yet been fully noticed by competitors.
Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, and Haas driver Esteban Ocon completed the morning session times. Sainz and Lawson continued testing for the full day, while other drivers handed over to teammates for the afternoon session. The 2025 Formula One season officially begins on March 16 in Australia.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
