Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton concluded the afternoon run on the final day of pre-season testing much earlier than anticipated due to an anomaly the team spotted on the car. Racing driver and F1 presenter Alex Brundle, son of Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle, carefully observed Ferrari’s telemetry data and gave his verdict of the seven-time world champion’s run, suggesting he was struggling quite badly.
While Hamilton concluded on the first day of testing that the SF-25 was a lot different from anything that he had previously driven, the Friday afternoon session was cut short by Ferrari after something seemed amiss. The Maranello outfit explained the reason for the early finish, stating that Hamilton was asked to bring the car back to the garage as a precautionary measure after an anomaly was spotted in the telemetry data.
Brundle, who was at the Bahrain International Circuit, noted his observation of the data from the Briton’s Ferrari run in the afternoon. He said:
“That Ferrari looks really difficult to drive this afternoon. I was watching it a little earlier on.
“Exit at Turn 4, entry at Turn 11, way wide. Through the mid corner of Turn 13 as well.
“Anywhere where it’s got its tail to the wind, Hamilton is really struggling to get it into the apex.
“This is going to be a better lap for him, but it doesn’t look happy. Big understeer through the mid corner [but] it’s probably one of the better corners of [Hamilton’s] lap.
“It looks really, really nasty behind the [wheel], whatever they’ve done to that Ferrari for Hamilton, whatever they’re testing.
“Of course, you take avenues that don’t always work, but that isn’t friendly.”
When asked about the car’s performance and where he expected it to rank in the pecking order, Hamilton said it was too early to draw conclusions but stressed that this was the “most positive feeling” that he has experienced in a long time:
“I think that probably, in the last four years or so, I’ve learned that you really can’t judge too much from the first outlook.
“I definitely think in the past years before that, particularly in the previous generation of cars, it was much easier to know where you stood quite early on with that early feeling.
“I would say this is the most positive feeling that I’ve had in a long time. That’s all I can really say for now.”
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