Lewis Hamilton trails Charles Leclerc on final day of F1 test as Ferrari times vs McLaren revealed
The Briton took part in a Pirelli tyre test for 2026 alongside Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Lewis Hamilton has completed his third testing stint since joining Ferrari – but trailed teammate Charles Leclerc on the final day in Barcelona.
The 40-year-old Briton, who drove the 2023 SF-23 car in Fiorano a fortnight ago and Barcelona last week, took part in a Pirelli tyre test on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Driving a modified version of last year’s SF-24 car to fit the narrower 2026 tyres, Hamilton posted a fastest lap time of 1:15:93 over 87 laps on Tuesday. This time was just over a tenth-of-a-second quicker than Leclerc’s fastest time over 86 laps – 1:16:06.
However, both times were short of Lando Norris’ fastest lap in the MCL60 (McLaren’s modified 2023 car), which was 1:15:21 – though Norris did rack up 159 laps throughout the day.
Yet on Wednesday, Leclerc topped the timesheet with a 1:14:971 after 74 laps of running. Oscar Piastri was almost a second behind with a 1:15:815, while Hamilton set a quickest lap of 1:16:759 – 0.8 seconds down on his fastest time on Tuesday.
While lap times are largely irrelevant given each driver carried out different programmes on behalf of Pirelli, it is another box ticked for Hamilton as he acclimatises to a new team following 12 years and six world titles with Mercedes.
The seven-time F1 world champion did crash the SF-23 in Ferrari’s behind-closed-doors test in Barcelona last week, though was said to be “absolutely fine” following a shunt in sector three of the 4.6km circuit.
It follows a trend of Hamilton crashing in pre-season tests ahead of his first season with a new team, as he did for McLaren in 2007 and Mercedes in 2013.
This week, tyre manufacturer Pirelli’s programme was focused on the development of their slick tyres, ahead of new engine and chassis regulations coming into force next year.
The precise details of the drivers’ compound use and run plans were not disclosed.
Alpine will test for Pirelli next Thursday-Friday in Jerez, with McLaren and Mercedes also carrying out a day of testing each. On 2-3 March, Alpine and Williams will take part in further tyre testing for the manufacturer
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s next outing looks set to be on the launch day of Ferrari’s 2025 car – the SF-25 – on Wednesday 19 February, with a filming day at the team’s Fiorano track. He will also take part in the official pre-season test in Bahrain on 26-28 February.
The team will reveal their livery a day earlier, at the 10-team season launch event at The O2 Arena in London on 18 February.
Hamilton’s first race for Ferrari will be the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne – a venue he has tasted success at twice – on 16 March.
The race was confirmed this week to have a 3pm local start time (4am GMT).
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