Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari baffles by testing item “unlike anything I’ve ever seen”

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari confused technical experts in the F1 paddock with one intriguing aspect of their testing programme in Bahrain.

On Thursday (Day 2) of pre-season testing, Hamilton’s SF-25 was fitted with multiple probes which extended from the front wing and stretched out in front of it.

Upon its return to the garage, Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz got a closer look - but was left bewildered.

Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari confuses experts in Bahrain

“Let’s look at the aero probe on the front, it’s really quite peculiar, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Kravitz said.

“It’s a head-on probe, just measuring the air as it hits the central section of the nose.

“You can see the wiring goes into the cooling hole near the Prancing Horse badge because there’s no other way to wire it.

“It’s very low to the ground so Hamilton had to be careful on his laps, not to get any kerb strikes, or to get the car close to anything which will upset it.

“It’s lower than the front wing, lower than Hamilton would expect the ground clearance to be.

“It’s a really interesting couple of probes. The air flow under the central part of the nose section is crucial to feeding the central part of the floor, and the throat of the car, and getting maximum air flow underneath these ground-effect cars.

“It’s a crucial section for them to measure, even though I’ve never seen two probes like that, at that point of the front wing.”

Kravitz was not the only technical expert in Formula 1 who was left scratching his head by the item on Hamilton’s Ferrari.

Sam Collins analysed it: “Those probes stick further forward than the leading edge of the nose.

“The car, in theory, should be influencing that. But is it an aerodynamic valve where the air is being pushed ahead of the front wing?

“I think they are trying to get an understanding of the air flow just ahead of the front edge of the front wing.

“Then they’ll study more probes downstream, which we haven’t seen yet, which will study the impact of that.

“It’s an interesting layout. I’ve never seen anything like that.”