Lewis Hamilton starts F1 preseason testing for Ferrari

By Canadian Press on February 26, 2025.

SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Lewis Hamilton has started Formula 1 preseason testing for Ferrari in the next step in his bid to win an eighth F1 title with his new team.

The 40-year-old British driver left Mercedes to join Ferrari this season after spending 12 years and winning six of his seven world titles with the Silver Arrows.

After Hamilton drove out of the garage Wednesday in the red car No. 44 at the circuit in Bahrain, F1’s social media posted the message: “Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari driver” followed by a heart emoji.

Hamilton joined the team last month and will line up in the 2025 season alongside Charles Leclerc, who has been at Ferrari since 2019.

Each team is allowed one car on track at a time during preseason testing, and Wednesday’s morning session saw Hamilton joined by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old Italian rookie who has taken over his old seat at Mercedes.

Among the other drivers on track were Liam Lawson, who’s partnering champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull this season, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Two factors mean preseason testing could be less useful in predicting the teams’ race pace this year.

The weather so far Wednesday has been windy and unusually cool for Bahrain, unlike a typical F1 race weekend.

Bahrain also isn’t hosting the opening race of the season, like it did last year. The first race is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Associated Press

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