F1 expert shares worrying assessment of Lewis Hamilton's first run in a Ferrari

F1 jounalist Scott Mitchell-Malm shared a trackside review of Lewis Hamilton's first outing in a Ferrari during the morning session of Day 1 of the Bahrain pre-season test. The expert explained how the Briton seemed to struggle to deliver consistent laps and especially had a torrid time through turns 8, 9, and 10 of the Bahrain International Circuit.

Hamilton went out for his first broadcasted outing in a Ferrari during Day 1 of the Bahrain pre-season test on Wednesday. The 7-time-world champion ran the morning session while his teammate Charles Leclerc drove during the post-lunch session.

Mitchell-Mann was trackside to witness Hamilton's first run and provided a somewhat worrying review of his first outing in 2025. He noticed a variation in Hamilton's approach to turn 9 on all three of the different run plans he undertook.

Mitchell-Mann also explained in an article for The Race, that as the day progressed, the new Ferrari driver seemed to struggle more in turns 8, 9 and 10, even suffering with understeer. He wrote:

"The more the first half-day progressed, the more of a challenge it looked. There was a lock-up into the slow Turn 8 hairpin, a wide moment through Turn 10, and Hamilton also had a small snap exiting Turn 4 that meant he dropped a wheel on the gravel." [via The Race]

"And in the final hour or so it was noticeable that Hamilton had a hard time getting the front end to bite for Turn 10 when he attacked the entry more." he added.

The journalist also expressed that during the early hours of the day, Hamilton had started to look more smooth in his approach to the slow corner, backing the theory that the driver may have been trying out different entry lines and approaches.

Coincidentally, Mitchell-Malm also mentioned that Lewis Hamilton's replacement at Mercedes, the 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli also seemed to struggle with the challenging double-left-handed corner made up of turns 9 and 10.

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Lewis Hamilton's struggles may be down to him trying to find the limit, claims Scott Mitchell Malm

Lewis Hamilton during his first Ferrari outing - Testing in Bahrain - Day 1 - Source: Getty

Scott Mitchell-Malm also shared his feelings that Lewis Hamilton's first impressions in a Ferrari may just be down to the driver trying to find the limit of his new car. He mentioned how it is nearly impossible to make any concrete judgments based on just one test session.

Mitchell-Malm explained that Wednesday's outing is merely the first impression of Hamilton in a Ferrari and nothing further. He wrote:

"All this is to say, this is very much a first impression and treating it as anything too enlightening about Hamilton’s adaptation would be too big a leap." [via The Race]

It may just as likely be a sign of Hamilton finding the limit as it is of car weaknesses being exposed or Hamilton needing more time to adapt. The rest of the week will help answer that more convincingly," he added.

Lewis Hamilton ended the morning session in fifth out of the 10 drivers who were on track, with a 1:31.834 lap time, but went down to 13th after the afternoon session was concluded, wherein the other 10 drivers competed. He completed 70 laps in the largely uninterrupted morning session.