Winter testing has kicked off in Sakhir (Bahrain). More than the initial times, it was the first performance in red by the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton that was eagerly anticipated.
Not a drop will be missed. Not a crumb will be left of what happens around these first days of Hamilton at Scuderia. We know everything and when we don’t, we seek to know, down to the smallest detail. We are on the lookout for information, even the least relevant, the most trivial.
On Tuesday, before starting this season, the Scuderia’s chef had prepared penne alla arrabbiata, his favorite dish. On Wednesday morning, after the official season photo, he almost twisted his ankle. We also know, as confirmed by Oliver Bearman, that he has changed a few buttons on his steering wheel, compared to the one he discovered when he arrived at Ferrari and that, in particular, Ferrari’s neutral corresponded to DRS on his Silver Arrow, hence the need to modify the positions.
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Even Mercedes, his home for more than ten seasons, was not ready for this departure and on Wednesday evening, while the circuit was experiencing a massive power outage, it was discovered that on one of the German team’s generators, the number 44 had not yet been removed.
Hamilton is indeed everywhere, in all the discussions of a paddock that finds itself in the icy cold of Bahrain. To not miss anything, the Italian press, which had deserted the circuits in recent seasons, has indeed returned in force. Ten accredited this week for private testing and an even larger number in Melbourne (AUS) in ten days for the opening of the season on the other side of the planet.
Ferrari, Red Bull, the French… the state of affairs before the start of F1 winter testing in Bahrain
Don’t imagine that the Italians are back to follow Kimi Antonelli, the new gem promised by Mercedes, the man who, on the first day of these tests, signed the best morning time after being the first on the track at ten o’clock. No, the Italian press, like the rest of the journalists, only have eyes for Hamilton in his new team, which, by the way, has been populated with many new faces. To meet the demand, the champion’s media army has been set up. Photographer, press officer, communications manager, marketing manager, manager, no one is missing from the call.
He, however, acts as if nothing has happened. Or rather as if nothing has changed. He is a driver and intends to remain so. And if he almost injured himself in the morning getting out of the golf cart, it’s because he was eager to get back behind the wheel, as in Fiorano (ITA) at the end of January, in Barcelona (ESP) at the beginning of February and last week, again on the factory track, during the official launch.
Like any other driver
When the light turned green, he was in the pack following the path opened by the one who replaced him at Mercedes, the SF25 laden with aero sensors like any driver. He banged out 70 laps in four hours, in six relays, all on C3, a medium tire. A normal morning with nothing major to note. Like any other driver.
And don’t try to compare with the best time of this first day (one and a half seconds behind) or the time signed by his new teammate, the seasoned Scuderia who is in his seventh year, Charles Leclerc (a full second). The conditions were different and the Briton knows it, like all drivers. He spent the afternoon with the engineers to follow the tests of the Monegasque’s car throughout the session. Like a driver.
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In the end, we talked little about the front wing of the Red Bull, which we discovered to be rather flexible, nor about the long changes in settings on the RB21 of the champion at the end of the day and even less about the best time of Lando Norris on his McLaren in front of Russell’s Mercedes.
We did not know the volume of fuel on board and 10 kg in Bahrain, that’s worth four tenths. It was all about Hamilton, the driver, on this first day. And it’s likely to be similar for the last day, Friday, when he finally speaks to the media…
