Ferrari Look Reliable After Boring Bahrain Pre-Season Testing 2 Day 1
I watched all 8 hours of Ferrari’s first Bahrain Pre-Season Testing 2 session so you don’t have to! Ferrari looked reliable, but it was pretty boring for the most part.
To get us started, let's just ignore the timing for now. I was watching the telemetry every time a Ferrari was on the track, and for about 80-90% of the time we were going at a snail's pace, and just focusing on longer race runs. When we felt like pushing, Charles Leclerc clocked in a 1:33.739, and Lewis Hamilton was a little slower with a 1:34.299. But like I said, comparing our times to other teams is pretty pointless at this stage.
What is worth mentioning is the drivability of the car. Now, I wasn’t the one in the seat, however, when Leclerc was behind the wheel, the Ferrari looked very stable under braking and particularly strong in corner entry. Interestingly, during Charles’ opening laps on cold tires, the front-end looked a little unstable under braking. However, this quickly disappeared after two laps, and he instantly looked more consistent than some of the other cars out there.
Hamilton also looked comfortable during his runs, but he had one or two small moments, which I can’t say about Leclerc. But, it’s a good sign that both drivers are already adapting to the car, especially Hamilton. I’m sure we all remember his complaints last season. However, the hope is that even with the cars being more difficult to handle this year, the British driver is beginning to get the hang of driving his Ferrari.
In terms of reliability, clocking in 114 laps already is a good start. Lewis spent about 90 minutes in the pits behind top secret covering boards, which is a minor concern. However, once the mechanics had done what they needed to do, he was back out on track like nothing ever happened. Some mainstream outlets will probably make a big deal about this, but given his car came out of the pits covered in flow-vis paint, they were most likely making tweaks instead of repairs - but I could be wrong…
Speaking of flow-vis paint, both Leclerc and Hamilton had flow-vis on their rear-wings, with only Lewis having paint on the front of his car after spending a long time in the pits. Apparently we have a rather handy rear diffuser, so this will most likely explain both cars running flow-vis on the rear? But I’m not a technical analyst, I’m a Ferrari fan, so if any tech boffins want to let me know more about that, feel free to do so in the comments!
Honestly, the first day of Pre-Season Testing 2 was pretty boring. The Prancing Horses looked consistent and stable to drive, which was one of my Ferrari hopes this season, especially for Lewis Hamilton, as we need both drivers to be on-form in 2026. However, we still have two more days of testing, so let's see if we can keep the car in one piece before the season opener in Australia.
