Lewis Hamilton produced an encouraging display on the second morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing as he topped the timesheet for Ferrari in Bahrain.
Continuing his assimilation to the Italian team having joined from Mercedes over the winter, Hamilton delivered a searing show of pace as he repeatedly improved his times to finish four tenths clear of his former Silver Arrows team-mate George Russell.
In a busy start to the morning session on day two, Hamilton improved on the previous fastest time of the test, set by McLaren’s Lando Norris on Wednesday in what are generally considered to be more favourable floodlit evening conditions.
Hamilton then immediately took a further two tenths off his time to eclipse the best lap time from last year’s Bahrain test, a 1:30.222 delivered, also for Ferrari, by his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The reason for the unusually busy track in the early stages of the session soon became clear as some rare Sakhir rain arrived to all-but clear the track for the best part of an hour.
Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg made contact coming into turn eight during the morning session of day one Testing.
The track began to ramp up again with just over an hour of the session remaining, with Carlos Sainz – driving in both of Thursday’s sessions for Williams – moving within a hundredth of a second of the then-leading time while using a harder tyre compound than Hamilton.
The track improvement was confirmed moments later when Russell became the first driver to go into the 1:20s, but the Mercedes was only at the top of the timesheet for a matter of seconds as Hamilton went a couple of tenths better.
With 45 minutes of the session remaining, Hamilton returned on fresh tyres once more for another performance run, but actually blew his first attempt as he ran wide in the middle sector having improved on his previous best in the opening part of the lap.
However, having aborted the first lap, he found enough in his tyres to go two tenths faster, with a 1:29.379 that was quicker than Ferrari’s qualifying best here in Bahrain last year and just 0.2s away from the 2024 pole time set by Max Verstappen.
While the weather reduced running across the board, Hamilton still managed a healthy 45 laps, with Russell topping the mileage charts on 71 trips around the Bahrain International Circuit.
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok said: “Yesterday it just looked like the front of the car wasn’t quite there for Lewis, but today it certainly looked like, while the circuit has improved and everyone is going a second quicker, he had a car underneath him that he could turn and manipulate a corner.
“I think that’s an encouraging sign for him and his legion of fans out there, who really want him to succeed at Ferrari.”
In what, rain aside, was a largely routine session, the only major moment of drama came when McLaren’s Oscar Piastri collided with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in a strange incident.
Hulkenberg, not going at full tilt, was ahead on track going into Turn Eight but Piastri fancied getting past and made a move up the inside, only for the McLaren to run deep and into the Sauber.
While the contact was light, it damaged the front wing of the McLaren, which needed a change. Hulkenberg appeared to avoid any damage to his car.
Having seen his team-mate Norris top Wednesday’s timesheet, Piastri was only seventh with McLaren’s morning programme appearing not to focus on performance runs.
Liam Lawson, who is driving in both Thursday sessions for Red Bull ahead of Verstappen doing the same on Friday, was eighth and managed only 28 laps – 12 less than the next lowest session total.
Bahrain Test Timesheet – Day Two morning
1) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:29.379, 45 laps
2) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:29.778, 71 laps
3) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:30.090, 44 laps
4) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:30.430, 40 laps
5) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:30.700, 45 laps
6) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:30.793, 46 laps
7) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:30.821, 44 laps
8) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:31.233, 28 laps
9) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:31.457, 56 laps
10) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.071, 69 laps
Sky Sports F1’s live pre-season testing schedule
Thursday February 27 – Day Two
- 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted’s Testing Notebook
Friday February 28 – Day Three
- 6.50am-11.05am: Morning Session
- 11.55am-4.05pm: Afternoon Session
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted’s Testing Notebook
- 9pm: Ted’s Development Corner
When is the first F1 race?
For the first time since 2019, the season-opener will be held in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16. The first race has switched from Bahrain to Australia due to Ramadan taking place throughout March.
There are 24 events on the 2025 F1 calendar, the same number as last year, with the season ending at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 5-7.
Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian GP on March 14-16. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
