Lewis Hamilton will have a first impression of how his Ferrari rates against the rest when Formula One starts three days of testing in Bahrain on Wednesday with a new crop of cars and drivers.

The Formula 1 driver market was especially active in 2024, meaning Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is one of 10 changes as half of the seats on the grid are occupied by someone different this term

With F1’s current regulations now in their fourth year, the performance gaps that gave front-runners comfortable advantages are shrinking fast. Teams that were once struggling to keep pace have had enough time with these cars to catch up on the learning curve. (See: Ferrari and McLaren’s surge last year .)