The first day of track activity in Bahrain saw Scuderia Ferrari HP get through a busy programme, involving three drivers, with Sweden's 21 year old Dino Beganovic, the talented Maranello Driver Academy youngster, driving Charles Leclerc's car in FP1 alongside Lewis Hamilton.

On the job sheet was an evaluation of the first update package of the season, the main element of which was the floor of the car, which worked as expected and was then used on both cars for the rest of the day. Apart from that, the teams went through the usual tasks of fine tuning the SF-25, starting from the baseline data acquired during last February's test at this track. This was only of limited use because of the very big difference in temperatures and atmospheric conditions between then and now.

The first session was run in bright sunshine on a boiling hot track, with a temperature close to 50 degrees. Lewis and Dino started on the Hard tyre, not setting any relevant times as the grip level was very low. After a first run comparing configurations, Beganovic's car was also fitted with the new floor and both drivers continued with the hardest compound tyre as the track gradually rubbered-in. For the second part of the session both SF-25s were fitted with Softs on which Lewis set the third fastest time of 1'33"800 and Dino was 14th with a 1'35"055. Between them they completed 43 laps, 23 for Hamilton, 20 for Beganovic.

The second session started as the sun was setting and was therefore the most representative as it took place at the same time of day as qualifying and the race. Leclerc was back behind the wheel of his SF-25, out on track with Medium tyres, as was Hamilton. The Englishman started with a useful 1'32"157, while the Monegasque was getting to grips with the track, setting a time of 1'32"755. In the middle part of the hour, both cars went out on Soft tyres at which point Leclerc set the fourth fastest time of 1'31"045. Lewis set his personal best of 1'31"652 before taking on more fuel to run in race trim, as did Charles, who completed 27 laps, four more than his team-mate.

Charles Leclerc: The temperatures are so much higher than during testing here, so FP2 was tricky. The feeling in the car is completely different and we have to adjust the car to suit it.
We will work on that tonight and try to optimise the setup. I'm trying to push in a direction that will allow me to extract the most out of the car for my driving style. With our competitors ahead of us by quite a bit, I'm motivated to close that gap as soon as possible.

We have to focus on maximising the potential of our car. I think we can still find some performance ahead of qualifying and we will do everything to extract the most from our upgrade. Let's see where that will place us tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton: FP1 was quite tricky — the heat made it difficult to find grip, so it wasn't the most representative session for us.

FP2 was a step forward. The lap on softs was looking strong, but I went a bit deep into the final corner and lost some time there. Our race runs were solid, but others seem competitive in all conditions, so we'll be working hard overnight to close the gap.

Dino Beganovic: Making my first official Formula 1 appearance in a Ferrari is a real privilege and I will remember this day in Bahrain forever. I really had an amazing time, I enjoyed every moment.

We completed our plan with no issues and I hope it contributed to helping the team. I want to thank Charles, the team and the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy for this amazing opportunity.

I will now focus on my Formula 2 campaign and will do my best to maximise the learnings from today.

Check out our Friday gallery from Manama here.