2025 F1 Pre-season test: Kimi Antonelli tops the first session as Lewis Hamilton completes first proper run in a Ferrari

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli topped the morning session of the official pre-season test while Lewis Hamilton completed his first run in a Ferrari at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain on February 26. The duo took to the track immediately after the lights went green to get their first initial impressions of their 2025 challengers.

The British driver had initially led the first hour of testing and looked comfortable in his SF-25 which marks his first official outing as a Ferrari driver. But the seven-time F1 world champion found himself tackling the edges of the track on multiple locations of the circuit and saw him going wide as well.

But at the end of the first four hours of the F1 testing, it was Antonelli who replaced Hamilton in the Mercedes, topping the morning session with a best lap time of 1:31.428 minutes. The young Italian led the Red Bull driver Liam Lawson by a margin of 0.148s followed by Williams's Alex Albon, who came in P3, around 0.145s further behind.

Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda trailed the Top 3 with a gap of 0.182s to the Italian rookie. However, Lewis Hamilton was over four-tenths behind his replacement at Mercedes.

Jack Doohan, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Niko Hulkenberg, and Oliver Bearman rounded off the Top 10 with some of the drivers giving their cars to their teammates for the evening session.

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Kimi Antonelli expresses his emotions replacing Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli stated that he did not want it to be referred to as the replacement of Lewis Hamilton and wanted to be his own man in the sport.

Speaking with F1.com, the 18-year-old spoke about the prospect of being Hamilton's replacement and said:

“I don’t find it right to say that I’m his replacement. He has done so much in the sport. I just feel like the next Mercedes driver, and I really want to make my own story.

"Racing for Mercedes is a big responsibility, because it’s obviously a top team, but at the same time it’s a great opportunity and it’s a privilege to be where I am today. I’ll just try to make the best out of this opportunity.”

Antonelli also shed some light on his dynamic with his new Mercedes teammate George Russell and added:

“So far it’s been really good. We both came through the ranks and the junior programme. It’s great to see that we’re finally both racing in the same team. George showed, especially last year, how strong he is, how strong he became – especially his consistency was quite impressive."

While Antonelli gave the W16 to Russell for the evening session, it is unclear if Hamilton will continue under the lights in Bahrain as Ferrari had not revealed its drier lineup for each day for Testing prior to Day 1.