Charles Leclerc did 66 laps in the morning, while in the afternoon Lewis Hamilton brought the day’s total to 113. Over the three days, between them they covered a distance equal to seven Grands Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari HP bids farewell to Bahrain having completed its pre-season test programme with the SF-25, ahead of the opening round in Australia on 16 March. Over the three days at Sakhir, the team did a total of 385 laps, equivalent to around seven Grand Prix distances and 2084 kilometres.

Morning. It was Charles’ turn to be first on track in the SF-25, shortly after 10 local time, running the C3 compound tyre for almost the entire four hours available. The exception was a five lap stint on the C4, although he actually set his best time of 1’30”811 on the harder of the two compounds. Towards the end of the session, the wind picked up and the gusts made life difficult for all the drivers in terms of getting the most out of their cars, to the extent that very few of them improved their times. Charles did 66 laps, equivalent to 357 kilometres, and set the fastest time of the morning. Over the three days he drove 223 laps, 1207 kilometres, equivalent to five Grands Prix. 

Afternoon. As usual over the lunchbreak, the team changed the SF-25 to Lewis’ dimensions and preferred settings and he was one of the first out on track. His programme was almost identical to the one his team-mate ran yesterday, with the Englishman carrying out qualifying and race simulations. On low fuel, Hamilton’s best time was a 1’30”345 on the C4 compound. Then, with a heavy fuel load he ran C3 tyres bringing his daily lap total to 47 (254 kilometres). In the closing stages, the team decided to bring Lewis in and stop running, as a precaution, having spotted an anomaly on the telemetry. Over the three days, Hamilton racked up 162 laps, equivalent to 876 kilometres or almost three race distances. The SF-25’s next appearance on track will be on Friday 14 March for the first free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.

MORNING SESSION

DRIVER: Charles Leclerc #16
LAPS COMPLETED: 66
DISTANCE COMPLETED: 357 km
FASTEST LAP: 1’30″811 (on C3)
TYRES USED: C3, C4
WEATHER: Cloudy, dry
TEMPERATURES: Air: 18°C, Track: 33°C

AFTERNOON SESSION

DRIVER: Lewis Hamilton #44
LAPS COMPLETED: 47
DISTANCE COMPLETED: 254 km
FASTEST LAP: 1’30″345 (on C4)
TYRES USED: C3, C4
WEATHER: Cloudy, dry
TEMPERATURES: Air: 17°C, Track: 22°C

CHARLES LECLERC #16

This has been a very different type of pre-season testing, because of the inconsistent weather in Bahrain making it hard to come to any real conclusions. The wind changed from run to run, there was even some rain yesterday, and temperatures fluctuated over the course of the week, so all the teams head to the first race with some more unknowns compared to the past few years. We still learned a huge amount, especially in terms of the way the car feels now that we’ve actually been out on track.

We will return to Maranello and spend some time in the simulator, to look for the last details that could make a difference in Melbourne, but also to correlate the feeling in the sim to that in the real car. We are fully focused on maximizing our performance over the coming week and I really look forward to kicking off the season.

LEWIS HAMILTON #44

Overall, it’s been a great few days and we’ve made some strong progress as a team. We had to finish a little earlier than planned today, and the weather has been hard to predict all week, but that’s how testing works sometimes, and we’ve managed to gather a lot of good information to build on before the season starts.

The whole team has done an incredible job, and I’m so excited to get to the first race in Melbourne. I can’t wait to go racing with them.

FRED VASSEUR – TEAM PRINCIPAL

It has been hard to get a clear read on the overall situation here in Bahrain, as the conditions were changing quite a lot day by day and from the morning to the afternoon, so it was more similar to Vegas than to the Bahrain we usually know. Over the past six months, we have worked very hard on this car and have made a good improvement, but we will have to wait until we are all on track in Melbourne to understand where we are.

If we look at the hierarchy of previous years, what we saw here was not the same as in qualifying a week later, under the same conditions. We will go from 10-15 degrees on the track to the 45 we will have in Australia, so in Melbourne, it will probably be a whole different story.

We want to fight for both championships, as we know we have two drivers who can do it, and the mood in the team is very positive. We will continue to work hard to be ready in two weeks’ time for the start of the season.