Lewis Hamilton has raised concerns over the speed and drivability of Formula 1‘s new smaller, lighter cars following a challenging morning at the wheel in Bahrain.
The first official pre-season test ahead of the new season got underway in Bahrain on Wednesday, with Lewis Hamilton on duty in the morning session for Ferrari.
His session was not without incident, running wide multiple times during the session, catching his SF-26 as it attempted to force him into a spin.
However just before the midpoint of the morning session, he eventually suffered a full 360 degree spin, though he was able to continue back to the pits.
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-120x86.webp)
Handing the car to team-mate Charles Leclerc for the afternoon session, he ended the morning a second away from leader Max Verstappen’s time.
Reflecting on his experience so far of the regulations, Hamilton stated the cars were dramatically slower.
“Front, rear, it’s a lot less downforce”, he said of the new cars to media, including Motorsport Week.
“The car is shorter, it’s lighter, it’s easier to catch. It’s quite fun, it’s like rallying a lot.I think we’re slower than GP2 right now, right? It does feel like that.”
Lewis Hamilton yet to click with new regulations?
Revealing wind conditions played a part in his struggles, Lewis Hamilton confirmed that despite his issues, the new generation of F1 car is more ‘fun to drive’ but denied the new car was more suited to him than the old ground-effect era.
“I think not at the moment,” he confirmed.
“It doesn’t feel anything like the genre before. It’s really just too early days.
“With the baseline car that we have, we’re still trying to test lots of different things. We’re still trying to find the window that it likes to work in. We haven’t optimised the tyres, haven’t optimised the aero package yet, the ride height, the mechanical balance, all these different things.I’m not going to judge it just now.
“It didn’t feel great out there today with the wind. It was very, very gusty here.The gustiest I can remember it being here. We just have to take a little pinch of salt, plus it’s the first day here. In the morning it’s never fun. But in general, as I said in the last test, it’s a more fun car to drive.”
Hamilton also raised concerns over the new complex energy management systems for 2026, admitting it could confuse fans.
“I mean, none of the fans are going to understand it, tt’s so complex,” he said.
” It’s ridiculously complex.I sat in a meeting the other day and they’re taking us through it.
“It’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all. In terms of managing it, it’s pretty straightforward, I would say.Maybe in race trim it’s going to be different, we’ll see.
“But then also as a system that can automatically, once you finish a lap, it learns the way that you’re driving. Let’s say, for example, you lock up and go wide, you cover more distance, that affects that algorithm. So we’re just trying to get on top of it and understand it. But everyone’s in the same boat.”
READ MORE: RESULTS: Lando Norris tops first day of F1 Bahrain pre-season test
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-350x250.webp)
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-360x180.webp)
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