SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Lewis Hamilton said he's “really enjoying” driving his new Ferrari after he was narrowly beaten in Formula 1 testing results on Thursday by the driver he replaced at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz, Jr.
Hamilton's time from the morning session was the fastest for much of the day until new Williams driver Sainz beat it by .031 of a second.
Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was third fastest, .083 off the pace, with a much larger gap to Mercedes' George Russell in fourth, 0.43 off Sainz's time.
Hamilton and Sainz were over a second faster than the best lap from the first day of testing Wednesday, which was set by Lando Norris for McLaren.
“I am really enjoying the car. We’re slowly bonding, I think,” Hamilton said in televised comments. “Today was a bit more of getting to explore my interaction with my engineer, but so far I really enjoy driving this car."
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said he was satisfied with the team's work in testing.
“So far so good, but the first topic is reliability. It’s always a question at the start of the season, and it went well,” Vasseur said part-way through Thursday. He added it’s harder to tell a car’s true performance because it isn’t clear how much fuel competitors have in their cars for test runs.
Adding to the unseasonably cold conditions, the rare sight of light rain in Bahrain was an extra complication for teams trying to learn more about their new cars.
Expecting dry conditions in the desert, only two teams — Aston Martin and Haas — brought wet-weather tires for the test.
There is a third and final day of testing on Friday. The first race of the season is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.
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The Associated Press
