New Ferrari ‘a good improvement’ despite early Hamilton stoppage

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says the team’s 2025 car is “a good improvement” on last year’s car, despite an early end to testing due to an issue for Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was taking part in a race simulation when Ferrari brought him into the garage for what it described as an anomaly on the telemetry, and he did not return to the track as the team started to pack up early. Although the test ended on a low note, Vasseur says he believes the changes made over the winter — including to the front suspension — have shown to be a step forward. “ 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,” Vasseur said. “Over the past six months we have worked very hard on this car and we 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 (Celsius) 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.” Hamilton himself also says he was not overly frustrated by the stoppage on Friday afternoon, as he prepares for his debut race for Ferrari in Australia. “Overall it’s been a great few days and we’ve made some strong progress as a team,” Hamilton said. “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. 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.” Although Hamilton is focusing on a new project with Ferrari, there was a similar feeling of progress at Mercedes after George Russell topped the times on the final day of testing. “We’ve had a solid three days of pre-season testing here in Bahrain,” trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said. “The team has worked hard over the winter to improve on the weaknesses of the W15 and, from the initial signs, we seem to have made good steps in those areas with our 2025 challenger. “Despite a few red flag interruptions and some rain, we’ve managed to get through most of the program. It is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth that we were able to complete the most laps of any team over the course of the test. “Over the next week, we will pick through that data to assess areas of improvement and to bring the most effective race car we can for the first race in Melbourne in two weeks’ time. It is of course far too early to make an accurate prediction of the competitive order. However, we can be pleased with how the test has gone and look forward to heading to Australia to begin the 2025 season.”