Motor racing-Hamilton encouraged by 'amazing' mileage in new Ferrari 

Lewis Hamilton hailed an "amazing" amount of mileage on a productive morning for Ferrari on day four of Formula One's ‌pre-season shakedown at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. Ferrari failed to win a race last year, dropping to fourth overall, and seven-times world champion ⁠Hamilton suffered his first season without a single podium appearance.

They are hoping to be far more competitive this year, the start of a new engine era with the biggest rules reset ​that any of the drivers have experienced, although Mercedes are already looking ominously reliable. "When you ‍come to the test you always want to get a lot of mileage," said Hamilton in an interview with Formula One television on Thursday. "Like, today I did 85 laps in the morning which is amazing.

"Last ⁠year we ‌had a worse start ⁠to testing. So this, considering it's a completely new band of rules, it's better than we've experienced in ‍the past. So I'm really hopeful that continues." All teams must choose three of five days to ​run their new car in the behind-closed-doors test in Barcelona, with Ferrari opting for ⁠Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was Hamilton's first proper dry day in the car after rain hit Tuesday's session, when ⁠he and teammate Charles Leclerc were both in action. Hamilton said he had got through his programme, before handing over to Leclerc, and had a "bit of an understanding of where ⁠the car is at and where we need to improve".

The Briton is in his second ⁠year at Ferrari ‌after joining from Mercedes at the end of 2024. Formula One teams have two open tests in Bahrain next month before the season starts ⁠in Australia on March 8.