Lewis Hamilton Refuses to Drive ‘Horrendous’ Ferrari in the Middle of FP1 in Bahrain

Ferrari has introduced multiple upgrades on the SF-25 at the Bahrain GP this weekend, hoping to resolve the performance struggles this season. At least Lewis Hamilton thinks so.

Heading into the second race of this ongoing tripleheader, the seven-time champion was candid about his hopes of taking a step forward via this package. Having tested at the Sakhir International Circuit in February, Ferrari is counting on the comparative data of their 2025 car to benchmark where the upgrades have pushed the performance.

However, things don’t seem to be going their way so far. With FP1 kicking off on Friday afternoon, the Scuderia cars were off to a shaky start.

They had their Academy driver Dino Beganovic in Charles Leclerc’s car for one of their rookie outings. So Hamilton was their sole reference to gather data on the upgrade around the Bahrain track. But the Briton was unhappy with the car’s balance in his initial few laps.

When his race engineer Riccardo Adami asked him whether he would like to go on another push lap in that early run, Hamilton candidly said, “It feels horrendous, mate. Nope.” So, does this mean Ferrari’s upgrades have been a miss?

Saying that would be jumping the gun. Hamilton’s side of the garage has struggled to nail the setup of his car throughout this season. In Bahrain FP1 as well, the #44 driver felt his setup was not right for the circuit or the conditions.

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With FP1 happening in the warmer temperatures of the day in Sakhir, starkly different from the cooler conditions when FP2, qualifying, and the race will happen, there will be performance anomalies for the cars on the grid.

As for Ferrari’s upgrade, they need to run it on both cars in FP2 and FP3 on Saturday to figure out whether they have achieved the intended step up or not. While Hamilton did finish the first practice in third place, he was almost six-tenths off McLaren’s Lando Norris.

So, they have a mountain to climb, even though their upgrade package is substantial, judging by the number of parts they have brought to Bahrain.

Can Ferrari’s Bahrain package resolve Hamilton’s troubles?

Ferrari has brought a brand new floor to Bahrain, which includes a new floor body, edges, and fences, along with a redesign of the underfloor at the front. This package also includes a new rear wing with different pillars, and modifications to the front wing as well.

Hamilton was quite excited about these changes in his pre-race weekend interview in Bahrain.

“We got an upgrade this weekend, so I’m excited, we’re gonna, hopefully, have a bit more downforce. The Briton feels these upgrades would “hopefully take a step this weekend,” he said.

While he was quite cheerful, Hamilton also pointed out that his car had an issue in Japan, which may not be present on Leclerc’s car.

“We found something on the car that’s been underperforming for the last three races, so I’m really hoping when that’s fixed, I’ll start getting a bit better results,” said the seven-time champ.

Leclerc, meanwhile, is unsure whether this new package would be enough to propel them to the front of the field. “Whether it will be enough to close the complete gap, I don’t think so, I don’t think there’s that in what we’re bringing here,” he said.