Ferrari 'anomaly' fails to dampen Hamilton new era enthusiasm

Lewis Hamilton cannot now wait to finally make his Ferrari debut despite an 'anomaly' blighting his end to pre-season testing.

Speaking in the official press conference during the lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions on the final day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, Hamilton described his feelings with the car as "the most positive...I've had in a long time".

Hamilton then took to the SF-25 for the final four hours of running but only completed 47 laps, losing the final 45 minutes due to what the team described as 'an anomaly in the telemetry'.

The seven-time F1 champion still completed qualifying and race simulation runs during his time on track, finishing sixth quickest on the timesheet with a lap of 1:30.345s.

Reflecting on his final day, and the three overall, Hamilton said: "Overall it’s been a great few days and we’ve made some strong progress as a team.

"We had to finish a little earlier than planned today, and the weather has been hard to predict all week, but that’s how testing works sometimes and we’ve managed to gather a lot of good information to build on before the season starts."

With the season-opening Australian Grand Prix just a fortnight away, Hamilton added: 'The whole team has done an incredible job, and I’m so excited to get to the first race in Melbourne. I can’t wait to go racing with them."

Team-mate Charles Leclerc was ninth quickest after taking to the car in the morning session, completing 66 laps.