Lewis Hamilton: “Our Focus Is On Experimenting”

Lewis Hamilton kicked off his Ferrari era with 70 laps in the SF-25 on Day 1 of 2025 F1 pre-season testing, splitting 141 laps and 763 kilometers with Charles Leclerc at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit. The seven-time champ ran the morning, Leclerc the afternoon—same drill, no heroics, all data. Wednesday’s grind was about mapping the new beast, not chasing clocks, and Ferrari’s duo banked a full programme despite a mid-session blackout.

“Testing is always exciting,” Hamilton said, fresh from his first SF-25 outing. “It’s the first time you get to see what everyone has been developing and can start to get a feel for your own car and the year ahead. Being here with Scuderia Ferrari HP and in the SF-25 for the first time is an incredible feeling. Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we’ve already learned a lot. It’s too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good and as a team we’re working on the best way to optimise each run. There’s more to do over the next few days to get through our programme and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now I’m looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow.” His 1:31.834 on C3s—ninth fastest—took a backseat to aero rakes, C2 runs, and pit-stop drills.

Leclerc picked up the baton post-lunch, cockpit tweaked to fit. “It feels good to be back on track,” he said. “The whole team put a lot of effort into the SF-25 project over the winter break, so it’s exciting to finally get down to work with it. It’s always a positive to have a smooth session without anything unexpected happening in terms of your run plan, although of course, it’s still too early to come to any conclusions about our performance. We’re going to analyse our data from today and make use of what we learn tonight when we start work again tomorrow.” His 1:30.878 on C3s—fourth overall—came amid C2 stints, fuel-load swaps, and practice starts, clocking 71 laps.

The day wasn’t all smooth sailing—a power cut at 5:00 PM zapped the circuit, stalling action for nearly an hour. The FIA and teams tacked on an extra hour, chequered flag waving at 8:00 PM—cloudy, 14-15°C air, 20-22°C track, no drama beyond that. Both drivers ran identical gigs: aero mapping, sim checks, tyre swaps—baseline stuff, not bravado. Hamilton’s 379 kilometers matched Leclerc’s 384, a hefty Day 1 haul.

Thursday’s a rerun—Hamilton mornings, Leclerc afternoons, same grind. Ferrari’s not spilling pace secrets yet—Lando Norris’s 1:30.430 topped the sheets—but 141 laps signal reliability’s on lock. Hamilton’s debut vibe’s calm, Leclerc’s steady—SF-25’s first outing’s a quiet flex, data over dazzle.