Hamilton: I am really enjoying my Ferrari, we're slowly bonding

Seven-times F1 world champion Hamilton was second overall on Thursday 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 16 March.

Hamilton told TV reporters at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit on Thursday: "I am really enjoying the car. We're slowly bonding, I think. 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 my interaction with my engineer. But so far I really enjoy driving this car," added the 40-year-old, who won six of his titles with Mercedes and one with McLaren.

The enjoyment was limited for much of last year, with the Briton unhappy with his Mercedes' handling in 2024. Hamilton said he was getting up to speed gradually 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. 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.

"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," added Hamilton.