18-year-old Kimi Antonelli is the fastest

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, only 18 years old and successor to record world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, set the fastest time on the morning of the opening day of the Formula 1 test drives in Bahrain.

26. February 2025

From: dpa/dl

The Italian was allowed to drive the new Silver Arrow on the Grand Prix circuit in the Sakhir desert and relegated New Zealand Red Bull driver Liam Lawson to second place. However, the new team-mate of defending champion Max Verstappen had problems here and there keeping the new model of the Austrian racing team on the track. He was 0,132 seconds behind Antonelli.

While the Italian, who completed an impressive 78 laps on Wednesday morning, will be driving his first Grand Prix in the premier class of motorsport at the start of the season on March 16 in Melbourne, the 23-year-old Lawson has already completed a few races in Red Bull's second team, Racing Bulls. He is also one of a total of six drivers who will be starting the season as race drivers for the first time this year.

70 laps in the new Ferrari for Hamilton

Record champion Hamilton initially only managed fifth place in the new Ferrari on the first of the three test days at the Bahrain International. The 40-year-old Briton was more than four tenths of a second slower than Antonelli, completing 70 laps.

Lewis Hamilton in the new Ferrari. © APA/afp / FADEL SENNA

Nico Hülkenberg, still the only German regular driver, finished ninth in the Sauber out of the ten drivers who took to the track in the morning. Due to the different programs of the teams and drivers, the times, positions and times are only of limited significance. Four-time champion Verstappen will be behind the wheel of the Red Bull in the afternoon.