In a print media session in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton opened up about his thoughts about the new regulations and how it will affect him driving during F1 Testing in Bahrain. Furthermore, the Brit also talked about how the current situation with his race engineer felt for him after Ferrari gave Riccardo Adami a new position within the company.
F1 testing in Bahrain exposes energy limits and regulation strain for Hamilton
During testing in Bahrain, Hamilton addressed the complexity of F1’s new regulations and the challenges they introduced. He described a rule set that demanded intense technical understanding, with drivers sitting through detailed briefings to grasp the systems in full. In Barcelona, energy management shaped the entire approach, forcing drivers to lift and coast for around 600 metres on a qualifying lap, a style he felt drifted away from true racing. Bahrain’s heavier braking zones reduced that need, yet energy recovery remained a clear limitation. With battery regeneration falling short, drivers ran unusually low gears and pushed engine revs higher than ideal, dropping to first and second in places simply to recover crucial electrical power.
“I sat in a meeting the other day and they’re taking us through it. And yeah, it’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all. If you look at Barcelona, for example, we’re doing 600 metres lift and coast on a qualifying lap. That’s not what racing is about. Here (in Bahrain), we’re not having to do that because there’s lots of braking zones.
“The low gears that we have to go down into is just because we can’t recover enough battery power. We can’t recover enough battery power, so that’s why we have to go and rev the engines very, very, very high. So we’re going down to second and first in some places just to try to recover that extra bit of power.”
F1 season start disrupted by engineer change for Hamilton
Hamilton faced an unsettled start to the season as he has to work with a temporary race engineer. He acknowledged that the arrangement only covered the opening rounds, meaning another change loomed early in the year. That prospect forced him to adapt quickly and prepare to build a fresh working relationship once again, a disruption that he admitted did not help momentum. In a campaign where continuity and shared experience often prove decisive, he would have preferred to rely on a group forged over several seasons and tested in both pressure and calm. Still, he accepted the circumstances and focused on extracting the best from the situation, while Ferrari worked to ensure the transition remained as smooth as possible.
“It’s actually quite a difficult period because it’s not long-term. The solution that I currently have is only going to be a few races. Early on into the season, it’s going to be switching up again. I’ll have to learn to work with someone new. That’s detrimental to me, too. A season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin and calm. It is the situation that I’m faced with and I’ll try to do the best I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to help make it as seamless as possible.”
