An update on Lewis Hamilton’s chances of an eighth world title at Ferrari this year. First fact — McLaren led the way in pre-season testing by an appreciable margin. Ferrari were strong and possibly second best, but with work to do. Mercedes were third quickest, with Red Bull fourth. Then the rest.
That is a summary of three days of running, though any ranking comes with caveats from a distortingly chilly, windy and occasionally rainy Bahrain. We will find out how they all stand for real in Melbourne on the weekend of March 15 and 16, when the opening race takes place.
As for Hamilton’s countenance in the desert kingdom, it was a case of a familiar scooter (by which he whizzes around the paddock, all the better for dodging selfie-hunters when fans are in), yet Hamilton dropped his usual cutting-edge clobber and stuck to his red uniform like a good boy at a new school.
However, he remained a singular centre of attention. A large posse of photographers waited by the press conference door to capture his arrival, echoing the Michael Schumacher era. Ironically, so late was Hamilton — well, a few minutes in a sport when a few hundredths of a second is life and death — that the snappers had gone up into the event, thinking their intended shot had already sneaked in by a different route.
Hide and seek with photographers is a game at which Hamilton is super-skilled and well-practised. But observing his demeanour over the three days, he was relaxed and re-energised after 12 unbroken years at Mercedes, a mostly joyous period but troublesome for the three bumpy last years. As for his new environment, he said: ‘The energy I’m seeing from the team, well, it’s magic.’
Ferrari’s president John Elkann was in attendance, as if conferring a blessing on Hamilton’s rebirth. The lanky 48-year-old would not usually be at testing — a time and place for boffins to gather data, not for the Euro elite to strut their egos — and Elkann, it is said, does not hide his entitlement behind a bushel.
Lewis Hamilton pictured in Bahrain over the weekend during F1 pre-season testing with Ferrari
The seven-time world champion recently switched to Ferrari after 12 seasons with Mercedes
He is among the contenders for this year’s World Championship but not the outright favourite
He was hardly incognito. Bright pink trousers one day, bright pink jumper the next. It is a favourite colour of the father-of-three and modern leader of the Agnelli dynasty that lit up the GDP of post-war Italy.
It was Elkann who courted Hamilton prior to the signing. That is history, though, and what mattered was the action unfolding on the track, as Hamilton searches for a final flourish.
The fact is that McLaren were fastest over race distance by up to a second a lap, offering serious hope to Lando Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri. However, the papaya cars are a bit more on the edge over a single lap, being trickier on low fuel.
Williams have made a big step from last year and seem likely to be knocking on the door of the midfield leadership. Aston Martin, despite the injection of half-a-billion pounds by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, struggled by the heights of their vaulting ambitions.
Their troubles mean it is with a sigh of relief that they welcome the sport’s greatest ever designer Adrian Newey to their factory on Monday morning, day one of his career at the Silverstone factory. His drawing board is in place. The former Williams, McLaren and Red Bull guru will sit not in an office of his own, but among the key colleagues with whom he must work his alchemy.
But back to testing and Hamilton, with reference to the guy driving the other Ferrari, Charles Leclerc.
Aged 27, he was by repute the Scuderia’s No 1 until Hamilton rocked up. But in Bahrain we saw a difference between them by one metric, at least — Hamilton was replete with members of his bulging personal media team, while Leclerc kept himself to himself, just exchanging a few words with trusted friends.
Hamilton’s staff choreographed his every move from breakfast to bed, from images of Lewis entering the garage and leaving it to planning his change of clothes. This is Hamilton’s world. He is the most transcendent driver the sport has known.
Hamilton traveled around Bahrain on a scooter when he wasn’t driving his new Ferrari car
Ferrari are seen to be the main challengers to McLaren for the Constructors’ Championship
However, McLaren have led pre-season testing by an appreciable margin, with Lando Norris the favourite for the title
The two alphas, Hamilton and Leclerc, seem to have got on well so far. That bonhomie awaits the stress test of the season to come, mind.
They play chess together — on their phones, obviously! — but they limited most of their talk in Bahrain not to board games, music, art or fashion, but to the business at hand.
‘If we found two free minutes we told each other our impressions of the car, examined the differences and what we expected,’ said Leclerc. ‘With such tight schedules and separate driving shifts, there was no time to discuss anything else.’
As for Hamilton, he has a new lease of life, despite a technical problem curtailing his scheduled race simulation run on Friday. ‘This is what I love, what I grew up dreaming of,’ he said, reminiscent of his joy as a rookie at McLaren in 2007. ‘I don’t know why I have the hunger I have to keep doing what I’m doing to the level that I’m doing it, but I’m grateful I do. I’m thankful for this sport. It’s changed my life.’
Early days in red, but Hamilton has hope to cling to.
