There is an inexact measurement that may prove a lot more significant than the obvious pros and cons from Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula 1 pre-season test with Ferrari.
Hamilton ended three days in Bahrain second fastest, quicker than new team-mate Charles Leclerc, albeit with one of the lowest lap counts - only the Red Bull pairing of Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson, and an unwell Lance Stroll, managed fewer laps - and with no real long run preparation.
Perhaps more importantly Hamilton also looked at ease in the car and – caveated though this may be – some initial data analysis indicates no obvious sign of the chief problem that plagued him at Ferrari.
Hamilton’s own speed against Leclerc is difficult to judge from different times of the day, given varying run plans and weather conditions. Plus, Hamilton was getting to grips with a new car so not yet at the point where he knew where to search for the last couple of tenths.
That pursuit of the final bit of performance where a car that feels quite good, or a driver that seems in control, can tip over into trouble.
Caveats considered, so much is riding on his performance that drawing initial conclusions is inevitable. And on the surface some basic ones would therefore be that Hamilton seems pretty competitive in the car, although he is missing some crucial knowledge and has not had the smoothest time in his and Ferrari’s effort to expedite his adaptation.
The big question is whether the ghosts of his Mercedes farewell have followed Hamilton to Ferrari. This move is meant to revive the end of the seven-time world champion’s career after his trophy-laden Mercedes stint came to a disappointing conclusion - partly because its ground-effect cars have never been good enough to fight for a title but also because Hamilton in particular really struggled to gel with them.
Hamilton’s natural way of attacking corner entries on the brake has not been a good fit for a combination of cars and tyres that have been too easily on a knife edge.
These cars have a tendency to suffer entry understeer and mid-corner instability as the ground effect is reduced when the car slows down so the grip shifts from the rear to the front as the car goes through the corner.
Plus, modern Pirelli tyres do not respond well to any kind of slip; if the front axle slides due to initial understeer and then the rear axle slides due to mid-corner instability, it results in a compounded problem. Tyre temperatures can spike and the grip reduces further.
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Elements of this are obviously intrinsic to the current rules. Hamilton admits his natural style has clashed with what the cars need, and he has not been able to adapt as well as others, so that’s been a limitation on his part. Hence a theory that Hamilton might face a fundamental clash in this era.
Another theory, though, is that the Mercedes cars Hamilton drove brought the worst of these tendencies to the surface because they were so unpredictable. Even George Russell suffered from the extreme balance swings that could be encountered.
The early verdict of how Hamilton feels in the Ferrari is that there’s work for him and his team to do, something that Hamilton himself admits, but he is “really enjoying” the car. That is already a departure from before, when Hamilton admitted he hated the current era of cars.
When Hamilton was looking a little bit limited on-track, particularly in the first couple of days, that came primarily in a phase of Ferrari working through a run plan that didn’t include set-up changes to give Hamilton a better feeling in the car.
Hamilton feels the car is underneath him, and responding to his inputs, though. Hence while avoiding making any competitive prediction before his final half-day in the car on Friday, Hamilton had been willing to say it was “the most positive feeling I’ve had in a long time”.
It was always possible that a switch to Ferrari would mitigate the worst aspects of what Hamilton experienced, as the Ferraris have generally shown more tolerance for a ‘brake late and turn hard’ style than the Mercedes.
In Bahrain, Hamilton did not seem to have an awkward transition from braking to turn in into the tricky Turn 10 left-hander which, at times, the two Mercedes drivers were. That corner is very awkward as drivers are trying to scrub speed off from the quick Turn 9 left-hander that precedes it, all the while the track drops down and the corner gets ever-tighter.
The fact track conditions were different between Hamilton’s runs and Leclerc’s impacts Hamilton’s own reference for how to finesse his driving further in the Ferrari much less our ability to accurately compare the two.
But their fastest laps from day two, for example, were very similar – with no obvious hint of Hamilton overdoing it corner entry and then bleeding laptime on the exit. He compared well to Leclerc in this regard, gaining time through Turn 1 in particular.
The limited data that exists would suggest Hamilton was braking slightly later than Leclerc, and probably slightly harder as he slowed down to a lower minimum speed, but crucially was getting the car rotated enough to get back on the power earlier. So what speed and laptime was sacrified mid-corner was compensated, or eclipsed, by the time gained under braking and on exit.
There are also hints of a similar throttle and brake overlap from Hamilton as Leclerc has used to such good effect in the Ferrari. So when Hamilton trails a little bit of throttle while braking into a corner, perhaps that is rewarded in the Ferrari – or at least not triggering a problem like it may have in the Mercedes?
It is too early to commit to anything being a clear trend. And the Australian Grand Prix will offer a better indicator. But if Hamilton’s typical driving style is working more like it would have pre-2022, that is very significant.
Ultimately, there were limitations to what Hamilton could work through in this test. Having followed the team’s programme on the first couple of days the final day was meant to be an opportunity for him to start to push the car more, play with the set-up, and of course finally do some real long running to understand how the car behaves in a race stint.
In this respect, the test was not as successful as it could have been. And it means Hamilton goes to Australia slightly underprepared.
But he is very happy with what he called the “foundation” for his season, for which the compatibility between how Hamilton likes to drive and what the Ferrari needs will be critical.
