Hamilton sets fastest lap of testing in rain-hit Bahrain morning

Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest lap-time of 2025 F1 pre-season testing thus far on a rain-hit morning of Day 2 in Bahrain. 

Lando Norris had set the benchmark on Wednesday evening of a 1:30.430 for McLaren, but in mixed conditions on Thursday morning, it was actually George Russell who lowered the fastest time first.

The Mercedes, which was always good in cool, cold, rainy conditions in 2024, posted a 1:30.379 effort to pip Norris, before his former team-mate Hamilton came through on a 1:30.287.

The full morning session report of Day 2 is available here.

On a performance run on the C3 tyres - which will serve as the soft tyre for the Bahrain GP itself in mid-April - Hamilton then went for a cool-down lap, before shaving a couple of tenths off his time to post a 1:30.080. 

Williams' Carlos Sainz got closest to that time, just 0.07s down on Hamilton as teams then effectively declared for the first two hours as the persistent spitting rain showers got heavier. 

Pierre Gasly was an encouraging fourth for Alpine, ahead of Red Bull's Liam Lawson who is in for the full day with Max Verstappen on the sidelines.

Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Stake on the C4 tyres, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with the latter continuing Haas's policy of brimming the tanks full of fuel and sending the driver on his merry way. 

Yuki Tsunoda was the final driver to set a time in the two hours for Racing Bulls, as McLaren's Oscar Piastri did not post a lap as the team focused on aero-rake runs. 

Russell completed 28 laps in the dry, before Ocon eclipsed his tally by going out on the sole set of intermediate tyres Haas brought to the test. 

Haas was one of two teams to bring wet weather tyres, the other being Aston Martin with three sets of the intermediates, but Alonso did not venture out.