Hamilton still has “quite a bit to come” in adapting from Mercedes to Ferrari car

Lewis Hamilton has said he still has “quite a bit to come” to be fully adapted to Ferrari’s Formula 1 car after spending the last 12 seasons at Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion still has the final session of Bahrain pre-season testing to continue to learn how Ferrari’s car works with his driving style, as well as the Scuderia’s at-track processes overall.

In addition to the one day of testing he has already completed at the Sakhir track alongside Charles Leclerc, Hamilton has also sampled recent Ferrari cars under F1’s Testing of Previous Cars rules.

When asked by Autosport how he had found the Ferrari F1 cars he’s driven so far, Hamilton explained they are “massively different in characteristics” compared to the previous machines he has driven for Mercedes and before that at McLaren – with all his previous racing in F1 completed using Mercedes engines.

He pinpointed the way the Ferrari engine delivers power as an area he is still working to understand, as well as how the SF-25’s aerodynamic platform operates when it comes to attacking corner entry.

“I still feel that there's still quite a bit to come,” Hamilton said about how close he was to finding the limit around the new elements he was discovering.

“Fortunately, I got to drive the 2023 car. So, I've really been able to compare to the 2024 and the 2023 car and see where they've progressed, the problems they had on those two cars and how they've improved into this one.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari SF-25

Photo by: Erik Junius

“Obviously I didn't get to do the test at the end of the year, so for me, I started relatively late compared to others that have come before me – like Sebastian [Vettel] started here in November [2014], so he had a good two months, whereas for me it's been this [one] month period that I've had.

“So, a lot has been crammed in, in that time. But I personally like to just jump in the deep end and figure it out.

“That's what we're doing, but of course we're going through the processes and I feel like in this period of time we've built a really good foundation.”

Hamilton, speaking alongside Red Bull’s Liam Lawson and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri - plus Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda - in the press conference on testing’s final day, commented on the competitive picture that so far appears to be led by McLaren.

Hamilton said: “These guys out there look really quick, really competitive.

“It looks very, very close. We won't know till next week truly exactly where we stand, but we know that we've got work to do.

“And everyone's just heads down and I've been really inspired and really encouraged by my colleagues.”