It was supposed to be Lewis Hamilton’s day, his first with Ferrari in an official test session broadcast on TV for all to see. However, an 18-year-old boy, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, stole the show, making Bahrain return to the spotlight in his country, and completely eclipsing the British driver. “The Hamilton effect weighs a lot,” a companion from a Milan newspaper noted at the beginning of the day, but it was Kimi Antonelli who burst onto the scene at 11:20 Spanish time to become the best of the morning, achieving a time of 1:31.428 that improved by 2.6 seconds the one achieved by Russell on the same day last year, giving an idea of the jump that some have made.
Alonso, seventh
Fernando Alonso was the first in mid-morning, with a time that improved by a lot – 1.5 seconds, to be precise – the best time of day 1 of testing in 2024. The records went without problems, and then there was a break in activity, where the car was disassembled quite a lot to change adjustments completely or to solve some type of small problem. From the first, the Spanish driver went to seventh place, although he isn’t worried. He returned to the track, but no longer searched for times; instead, he focused on aerodynamic tests, which is what the first day of testing is all about. On Friday, there will be moments to go fast.
For a moment, Alonso was a thousandth of a second behind Lawson, in what seemed like a winter repetition of 2023 between Aston and Red Bull. But then Albon arrived with Williams, and the already-mentioned Antonelli joined the party next to Hamilton. Special mention deserves the performance of Albon, Carlos Sainz’s partner, who was in the afternoon session with Williams. He was first until Kimi took his time, leaving a great taste in the Grove squad, with many laps and always improving in each batch.
Hamilton wasn’t bad, finishing fifth, and within those seven pilots who are only 0.4 seconds apart, which makes for a great season of F1 – one of equality, as has been claimed for years, and even the sixth race last year was not boring and predictable, but rather quite the opposite.
It has been a premiere morning without accidents or breakdowns, very similar to what happened last year. The last year of regulation and frozen motors is insurance for car reliability. Only Liam Lawson starred in a spectacular spin, from which he recovered minutes later to place second. The ambition of this New Zealand boy was already evident in six races in 2024 and makes it clear that he comes to give Verstappen, who has no rival at home from Carlos Sainz, a run for his money.