Formula 1 pre-season testing, Day 2: How is Lewis Hamilton adjusting to his Ferrari?

Lewis Hamilton said he was “really enjoying” driving his Ferrari after ending the second morning of Formula One’s pre-season testing in Bahrain with his name on top of the timesheets.

The seven-time world champion was second overall for the day but only 0.031 seconds slower than Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard whose place he took at Ferrari and who will be racing for Williams when the season starts in Australia on March 16.

“I am really enjoying the car. We’re slowly bonding, I think,” Hamilton told television reporters at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit.

“Yesterday was a so-so day, it was just OK. But yesterday, we got through all our run-plan.

“Today was a bit more of getting to explore a bit of my interaction with my engineer. But so far, I really enjoy driving this car,” added the 40-year-old, who won six titles with Mercedes and one with McLaren.

The enjoyment was limited for much of last year, with the Briton unhappy with his Mercedes’ handling.

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Hamilton said he was gradually getting up to speed with his new surroundings.

“We’re really just focused on doing our job, we’re not watching everything else that’s happening. We’re literally just trying to make sure that we’re learning our processes in the car,” he explained.

“With every lap and every session that I get, I’m learning more about the car, getting more and more comfortable with all the completely different control systems that we have.

“I’m still in the learning phase of understanding the rear suspension, the front suspension, all the different settings that they have for those and the terminology that they use for them, as well,” he added.

“It likes to be driven differently. And that’s a really fun journey, learning that… I feel that the car is responding to my inputs. Today was a positive day, and making those incremental steps with the setup.”