Ollie Bearman has revealed how the "nerd" in him spotted some critical changes that Lewis Hamilton has made to his Ferrari Formula 1 steering wheel.
After 12 years at his previous team Mercedes, Hamilton has found himself thrust into a completely different world with his move to Ferrari.
Speaking last week, the seven-time F1 champion openly talked of there being no common ground between his old and new cars - including the steering wheel.
"It's rare that you jump in, and it just fits," he said. "For example, the steering was completely different. Everything.
"All the switch settings are completely different. The software is different. Everything. I am adapting to a car that's made quite differently to what I've worked with in the past."
Looking for exclusive extra content straight from F1 testing? Head over to The Race Members' Club on Patreon - join now for 90% off your first month
Hamilton has worked a lot in tweaking the arrangement of the buttons on the Ferrari steering wheel to his liking, and some of his efforts have been revealed during the opening day of pre-season testing at Bahrain on Wednesday.
Haas driver Bearman, who has good knowledge of the inner workings of Ferrari as a member of its driver development programme, said he noticed some interesting tweaks that Hamilton had made to his steering wheel.
"Seeing how much he's changed on the steering wheel, for example, is something that caught my attention," he explained.
"On his Mercedes steering wheel the DRS button [is in the place where], on [the] Ferrari it's neutral.
"So I think he moved a few things around to save some things."
As the below images of recent Ferrari and Mercedes steering wheel designs show, there are some major positional differences between some of the critical buttons.
And, as Bearman pointed out, having the neutral button in the same place where for years he had automatically reached for DRS was probably less than optimal for Hamilton.
Onboard footage of Hamilton's laps at Sakhir on Wednesday duly showed some critical changes around this area of the wheel - with the neutral button appearing to have been relabelled.
Lewis 🤜🤛 SF-25
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 26, 2025
Ride onboard with the seven-time world champ in his first session as a @ScuderiaFerrari driver 👊 #F1Testing #F1 pic.twitter.com/EK8piNq6US
On his quick laps, Hamilton seemed to be using DRS by activating a button just above his left thumb - although it is understood there is another option of using a switch behind the wheel itself.
It is, of course, quite normal for drivers to personalise a steering wheel.
"Even me, when I went to Haas, just moving things around compared to what you're used to is important," Bearman said. "I can imagine, after 10 years in the same car, you build up some habits.
"I was interested, actually. I knew he would change a few things on the steering wheel, like it happens every year. And I was more out of interest watching what changes he's made.
"It's just an interesting thing. I'm a bit of a nerd on that side of things."
