Last Updated on February 27 2025, 5:19 pm

Day two of Formula One pre-season testing and Lewis Hamilton has a bigger smile on his face. Having ended day 1 in thirteenth place a long way off the pace of his team mate, the former F1 champion looked at one with his Ferrari half way through the sessions in Bahrain.

Lewis was quickest in the morning session and ahead of his ex-Mercedes team mate by 0.4 seconds, though only Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri completed less mileage than Hamilton’s 45 laps. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz did a marathon 127 laps – which is more than the distance of  two Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit – but Williams along with Haas were one the only teams prepared with wet weather tyres when the rain fell for an extended period during the afternoon.

Hamilton was clearly ‘on it’ late in his time own the SF-25 as he tussled the car around the track whilst others looked sedentary. Some reports have made much of the fact Lewis set his time which beat team mate Charles Leclerc when the conditions meant the track was slower, yet the Monegasque driver in fact had worse conditions in which to complete his mileage.

 

 

 

Hamilton redesigns Ferrari paddle shifts

Ferrari have already bent the knee to a particular Hamilton demand as Oliver Bearman revealed today. The gear shift paddles have been redesigned and are now similar to the ones he used at Mercedes which was evident when Lewis did his practice start at the end of the session with his trade mark hand resting on top of the wheel before the launch.

The F1 media are swinging into to full on mode as the drivers have returned from their winter sojourn’s and are keen to get their points of view across. Lewis Hamilton has shut down his old boss Toto Wolff who suggested the seven times world champion may be past his best, citing the reason he has not married and had children is to remain focused and winning long into his 40’s.

The Mercedes team boss wrote in his book published last November: “[Hamilton joining Ferrari] helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop … We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life.”

Now in an interview with TIME, the most successful British F1 driver states he was ‘unbothered’ by Wolff’s comments, adding “the old man is a state of mind. Of course your body ages. But I’m never going to be an old man.”

FIA expulsions after clashes with president Ben Sulayem

 

 

 

Hamilton “no kids” claim

Whilst Lewis has been linked with a number of high profile women, his only real committed affair was with Pussy Cat Doll singer, Nicole Scherzinger from 2007-2015. Now he claims the fact he never settled down makes him different from most drivers and allows him to be single minded and relentless in his pursuit of victory.

“Don’t ever compare me to anybody else,” he said. “I’m the first and only black driver that’s ever been in this sport. I’m built different. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve had my own journey.” Of course there have been F1 drivers of colour from South America and Karun Chandhok from India, so the new Ferrari driver is not quite on such a lonesome pilgrimage.

“You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old, past or present, Formula One driver in history. Because they are nothing like me. I’m hungry, driven, don’t have a wife and kids. I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my No. 1 priority,”

Whilst there have been several less than friendly public exchanges between Hamilton and his old boss, the latest describing the parting of ways as a “divorce”, the record breaking British driver insists there are no hard feelings between the two. “There is no bad blood,” he continued. “Absolutely not. We won so many championships [together]. They have all the ingredients to win world championships, and they will win more world championships. I have no doubt.”

Kravitz amazed: ‘Never seen before’ McLaren trick

 

 

 

Mercedes attempt to widen operating window

Lewis’ former team mate George Russell has been encouraged by the winter testing so far claiming the team has addressed the unpredictable characteristics of the 2014 challenger. The team won four races last year with the W15 which thrived in certain conditions.

“It was clear last year we struggled a lot in the hot races and we had a lot of oversteer in the car when the track was very hot,” said Russell. “This is something we’ve tried to dial out [with the W16].

“Of course, for everybody, it’s trickier when it gets hot. But it was clear with our performance that we really went backwards. Also, it was on a knife’s edge. You saw us all have a few crashes last year: You go outside of the window and you were in the wall.

“So we’ve put a lot of focus on making the car more drive-able, more intuitive to drive. And I think from what we’ve seen so far, it seems to be doing that,” Russell concluded.

Inside: McLaren unhappy with Piatsri

 

 

 

Wolff jokes about not topping time sheets

Toto Wolff appears less convinced the team have achieved this objective particularly given the un seasonal cold weather that has dominated the pre-season testing in Bahrain. Three of Mercedes wins in 2024 came at Silverstone, Spa Francorchamps and Las Vegas where the temperatures were significantly lower than on average..

The W15 appeared when the weather was hotter to hurt its tyres when racing more quickly than the rest of the front runners but fail to maximise the pace in the car during qualifying. When asked by motorsport.com whether Mercedes have fixed their issues from 2024, Wolff joked: “Well, I’m a bit worried at the moment because that should be conditions where we should be two seconds quicker than everybody else!

“[That] was the only highlight last year in terms of performance in Las Vegas and we are not [that far ahead]. So, either we’ve remedied the problem and we are more balanced through all the climate conditions or not.

“We’ve had a laugh about it, whether we lost some of that USP. We shall see. I don’t know.”

Despite the colder weather, Mercedes will collect the data and run it through their database of conditions stretching back over a decade and across a variety of tracks and temperatures. Yet the real test will come in less than a month when the cars hit the track in anger down under in Melbourne.

Are Red Bull in bother?

 

 

 

 

Newey forced to change his working methods at Aston

Huge shakeup for Newey – Newey to change his style of working at Aston Martin – Mutter the words Adrian Newey amongst F1 folk and the response will include the adjective ‘legend.’ The guru F1 car designer has won 13 F1 drivers’ championships along with 12 constructor titles at three different teams.

Those who know Newey understand he is a restless soul and as most genius characters are can be quite sensitive and prone to a loss of temper. His first foray into Formula One was with the minnow March/Leyton house team. In his book ‘How to build a car’ Newey reveals the was racked with self doubt over his designs even though in 1988 his car in fact hassled the uber dominant McLaren Mp4/4.

Come 1990 and the Leyton House owner Akira Akagi was in financial trouble, so he brought in a new team financial director named Simon Keeble to – as Newey put it – “tighten the purse strings on his behalf”. And with team boss Ian Phillips recovering from meningitis, Keeble became acting team principal.