Charles Leclerc has finished his first test lap in Ferrari's 2025 car, and it's a seriously good sign for both him and teammate Lewis Hamilton.
On Tuesday night, Ferrari took part in the F1 75 event at London's O2 Arena, revealing their car for the 2025 Formula One season alongside the other nine teams competing for the title.
The event finished at 10pm and Ferrari wasted no time as they returned to Fiorano circuit near the Italian town of Maranello to complete the first testing sessions the following morning.
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Details of the session have been scarce so far, but details of Ferrari star Leclerc's first lap times in the 2025 car have reportedly been revealed, and it's seriously impressive.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Ferrari's SF-24 car set a lap record of 57.0s at the Fiorano track, showing the promising signs that led to the car challenging for the 2024 Constructor's Championship right up until the season closer in Abu Dhabi.
According to several different outlets, via formula aerodynamics, Leclerc improved on this time by 0.94 seconds, completing a lap around the test circuit in 56.06s with the new SF-25.
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If true, it would be a extremely promising sign for both Leclerc, who will hope to challenge for his first Driver's Championship having narrowly missed out to Max Verstappen on several occasions, and new teammate Hamilton, who is eager to win a record-breaking eighth title.
However, it's impossible to say exactly how impressive this lap time is until details of how Ferrari's rival teams new cars perform during their testing sessions in the coming weeks.
Formula One fans will get the best idea of how each of the teams could perform in the 2025 season when the official pre-season testing for all teams gets underway in Bahrain next week.
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All 10 teams will be present at the Bahrain International Circuit from February 26-28 to put in their final testing sessions before the 2025 season opener in Melbourne, Australia on the weekend of March 14-16.
As it stands, Ferrari are the second favourites to win the Constructor's Championship in 2025, behind reigning champions McLaren.
Meanwhile Leclerc is third favourite to clinch the Driver's title, behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Verstappen and ahead of Hamilton.
Topics: Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Formula 1
Ben McCrum