Revealed: The key reason behind Lewis Hamilton’s rapid Ferrari adaptation

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Ferrari’s SF-25 car characteristics have allowed Lewis Hamilton to ‘settle in very quickly’ following pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Hamilton was in action last week across the three days of winter testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The seven-time world champion looked comfortable on track, even if Ferrari didn’t grab the headline times during testing.

Hamilton's next appearance in the Ferrari will be at next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2025 F1 season.

Speaking to CasinoApps.com, Herbert explained why he’s confident Hamilton will be better suited to this year’s Ferrari.

“He settled in very quickly. When you’re at the level that Lewis has been for many years, it doesn’t take long to settle in,” Herbert said.

“That’s what he’s showing at the present time. The car itself looks pretty driveable.

“I think it looks more like what Lewis has always been after. He always likes a very sharp front end. And that was something that they struggled with, a bit of understeer with the Mercedes.

“It looks as if the Ferrari has a little bit more of a sharper front end, which is only going to benefit Lewis in his campaign to get that eighth title. And I think it’s very, very possible for that to happen.”

Ferrari expected to be behind McLaren in Australia

Heading into the season-opener in Melbourne, McLaren are expected to be the team to beat.

Lando Norris’ race simulation on day two of pre-season testing caught the attention of the paddock.

Norris was, on average, around 0.6s quicker than Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who were completing race simulations at a similar time on day two.

Oscar Piastri backed this up on day three, who was approximately 0.3s quicker than George Russell during the race runs.

The usual testing caveats remain, though, with the unusually cooler Bahrain conditions and uncertainty about which power modes teams were running.