Hamilton fastest on second morning of pre-season testing in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets as pre-season testing resumed at the Bahrain International Circuit, setting the pace from former Mercedes team mate George Russell in Thursday’s morning session.

After an opening day led by Lando Norris and McLaren, teams picked up their varied programmes amid similarly cool and breezy weather conditions – and unexpected patches of rain – in the heart of the Sakhir desert.

LIVE COVERAGE: All the action from Day 2 of 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain

Hamilton, completing his second successive morning at the wheel of the SF-25, got down to a time of 1m 29.379s with C3 Pirelli tyres – the seven-time World Champion taking advantage of a drier final hour leading up to the lunch break.

Most teams will swap drivers for the afternoon session, though Red Bull and Williams have elected to give Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz full days – meaning this will be their final running ahead of the season opener in Australia.

Russell wound up some four-tenths away from Hamilton, having admitted that Mercedes feels “different” without the veteran racer, while Carlos Sainz (just over seven-tenths back) completed the top-three places in his Williams.

READ MORE: Who’s driving on Day 2 of 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain

Incidentally, Russell was one of the busiest drivers on-track around the light showers, cruising past another race distance before handing the W16 back to new teenage team mate Kimi Antonelli for the afternoon’s action.

Pierre Gasly placed fourth in his Alpine, from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, while Oscar Piastri took seventh for McLaren via an unusual incident with returning Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Piastri and Hulkenberg were navigating the Turn 8 hairpin – on the inside and outside respectively – when the Kick Sauber machine cut back across and tagged the McLaren’s front wing, prompting a frustrated wave of the hand from the Australian down the back straight.

Lawson was eighth in his penultimate session of the pre-season, with the aforementioned Hulkenberg and Haas driver Esteban Ocon completing the order before some procedural checks for F1 governing body the FIA in the final five minutes.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from the first day of pre-season testing for 2025 in Bahrain

Ocon was the only driver to head out in the worst of the weather conditions, using up a set of intermediates on a damp, slippery track, but the rain soon eased again and brought a return to slicks.

Teams will now break in the paddock for lunch and a debrief ahead of the second session of the day, which is scheduled to begin at 1500 local time. Follow all the running in our rolling live blog.