A Formula 1 'insider' has dealt a potential early blow to Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season getting underway.
Hamilton will make his debut for the Scuderia at the Australian Grand Prix next weekend after the end of his 17-year association with Mercedes.
It will be a completely new experience for the Brit, who has driven under Mercedes power for his entire career dating back to his 2007 debut with McLaren.
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Three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain appeared to pass by without too many hitches for Ferrari, except for Hamilton's running being impacted on the third afternoon through a car issue.
The seven-time champion set the second-fastest overall time across the three days, though unusually cold track temperatures at the Bahrain International Circuit may not be the ideal measure of exactly how fast each car is.
Race simulation data appeared to favour McLaren, with Lando Norris up to a second faster on some laps than Leclerc while both were running full or near-full fuel loads.
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Again, the times are not yet fully representative of what we could see in Melbourne next weekend - but new testing data may well give the Scuderia something to think about.
According to Sky Sports F1's Craig Slater, an individual with access to GPS data from Bahrain has adjudged Mercedes to have been second-quickest across the test, behind McLaren.
George Russell's race simulation data on the C3 medium tyre appeared to be strong on day three. Young team-mate Kimi Antonelli able to post consistent lap times in what may be an even better sign for Mercedes.
Slater added: "That's really interesting, because Mercedes haven't been that self-confident during the test.
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"They have one very young driver, and George Russell leading the challenge."
Slater did note that the cold conditions in Bahrain may have played into the Silver Arrows' hands, with their 2024 challenger often struggling to produce race-winning pace when track temperatures were warmer.
On Ferrari, he added: "A dissosant view from one or two well-connected people that I've spoken to think that Ferrari are firmly in fourth place."
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Sky F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz added: "Mercedes think Ferrari are with them. Not even a tenth between them. It is finely poised between Mercedes and Ferrari.
"Where does Max Verstappen come between them? On a good day with an amazing Verstappen, could he beat both Mercedes and Ferrari? It's possible."
Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Ryan Smart