LEWIS HAMILTON may be in for a tough season if the analysis of one Sky Sports F1 pundit turns out to be correct.
Hamilton and co were taking part in pre-season testing in Bahrain before the first race of the season this Saturday, March 2.
Formula One pundit Ted Kravitz was keeping a close eye on the teams’ performances during the testing days.
And he has now revealed where he thinks each team ranks in terms of pace.
Kravitz told Sky Sports he reckons Haas will be at the back of the pack, with Sauber, Alpine, Williams and RB ahead of them going up to sixth place.
Getting into the top five however, Kravitz kicked things off by saying Aston Martin would once again be behind the front four.
He then tipped McLaren to be fourth place, but also said they were a team with “plenty of potential” to grow.
For his top three, Kravitz then named Mercedes.
He explained: “Mercedes showed they do have some speed but much more to learn from a transition into a car that they don’t know, but there’s lots to learn on that.
“I think Mercedes think they are behind Ferrari but not too far.”
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Things went far from smoothly in testing for seven-time world champion Hamilton given his W15 ran over a loose drain cover and forced Thursday’s morning session to be abandoned.
Testing for the Brackley based team came with the backdrop of Hamilton having announced he will be leaving the team at the end of the season and joining Ferrari.
Red Bull unsurprisingly then topped the tree ahead of Ferrari.
Kravitz said: “Then Ferrari clearly ahead of that pack.
“Given that Leclerc was on the C5, the softest of all them, but Sainz with the fastest lap of the test, in the 29s, that was only the C4. So clearly I think Ferrari are second.”
He continued: “Which leaves in front, Red Bull – but by how much? Between eight tenths and three tenths to Ferrari, that’s what I think.
Mercedes will have a vacant seat for 2025.
Here, SunSport’s F1 correspondent Ben Hunt looks at FIVE potential candidates who could replace him and partner George Russell in the Silver Arrows.
Oscar Piastri – McLaren have sewn up Lando Norris to a new long-term contract that should (in theory) put him out of Mercedes’ reach. However, they are yet to tie down his teammate Piastri, 22. The Aussie has an excellent record and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles before spending a year on the sidelines with Alpine and getting his chance in F1 with McLaren. He impressed on his debut season last year and has the potential to be a world champion.
Daniel Ricciardo – The experienced driver’s future remains in doubt as he bides his time at Red Bull’s B-team. Ricciardo would be low-hassle and offer some stability but by that time he would be 35. It seems unlikely that they would opt for him at this point in his career, but if he has a good season this year, he could come into the reckoning.
Kimi Antonelli – You may not have heard of the Italian, but he is mustard. Still only 17, he has won at all the junior categories and has been part of the Mercedes young driver programme since 2019. This season he has been promoted from F4 to F2, where he has been tipped to shine. A good debut season in F2 could sway Mercedes into taking a risk on him for 2025. Antonelli and his family are close to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mick Schumacher – Wolff has always been so incredibly supportive of Schumacher and spoken highly of him, that you’d at least expect him to come into consideration. He knows the team from his role as reserve driver and consequently would get up to speed. But speed is also the problem. He was shocking at Haas and if he really was THAT good, he’d still be driving in F1.
Alex Albon – A more-sensible choice would be the London-born Albon. A great guy who is also very quick. He has a fantastic relationship with Russell and would be the low-maintenance quick partnership similar to Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that swept to successive titles. Albon would take little convincing to join from Williams and Mercedes would not need to pay him half of the £50million they were dishing out to Hamilton.
“Tyre corrected, Max Verstappen would have been quickest because he set his time on the C3 tyre.
“And if there’s seven tenths to the C5 which Leclerc was on, then that makes Max faster today by three or four tenths of a second.
“So I think it’s anything from a conservative three tenths to an absolutely whacking optimistic eight tenths, or even maybe more.”
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