Lewis Hamilton calls for ‘equal playing field’ in new Formula One season

SAKHIR – Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has called on the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) to make sure that all 11 Formula One teams start the new season “on an equal playing field”, amid talk that his former team Mercedes have gained an upper hand following regulation changes.

Every car has undergone a radical change since the end of last season following dramatic regulation changes to both chassis and engines.

The Silver Arrows, who have been widely tipped to be the team to beat, have fended off suggestions that they have used a loophole in the new regulations, allowing them to steal a march with the compression ratio in their power units.

McLaren, Alpine and Williams all use Mercedes engines, while Red Bull have also been accused of exploiting the loophole.

The row prompted Hamilton, who won six of his seven titles during a 12-year spell with Mercedes before switching to Ferrari in 2025, to call for clarity.

“I hope we are in the mix (this season),” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

“Apart from Mercedes, we all look like we are quite close but we don’t know what fuel loads everyone is on.

“There are whispers of certain fuel loads that Mercedes are on. There are whispers of extra power that they have that the rest of us don’t have. And the compression ratio sort of thing.”

Hamilton added he hoped the sport’s governing body would resolve the matter.

“Hopefully that gets sorted and the FIA take care of that to make sure we are all starting on an equal playing field,” said the Briton.

The 41-year-old completed 52 laps on the first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Feb 11 before handing over testing duties to Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who clocked the third quickest time of the day.

McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris topped the time sheets, followed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. There was no stopping the Briton as he posted the best lap of 1min 34.669sec.

However, nothing should be read into that as teams were testing different aspects of their cars with varying fuel loads.

“Positive day, lots learnt and looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow,” said the 26-year-old Norris.

Verstappen, who will again be searching for a fifth world title this season, put in the most laps with 136 as he put his new power unit, built for the first time by Red Bull, through its paces.

The Dutchman’s pace prompted a concerned nod from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who reportedly said that Red Bull had “set the benchmark” on the first day of testing, when the Silver Arrows’ George Russell placed sixth, behind Ferrari-powered Haas’ Esteban Ocon (fourth) and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri (fifth). Hamilton was seventh.

“They (Red Bull) are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else,” Wolff was reported as saying by the BBC.

“You are speaking a second, over consecutive laps.

“On a single lap we have seen it before, but now we have seen it on 10 consecutive laps with the same kind of straight-line deployment.”

With the season opener in Melbourne under a month away, this was the second chance for teams to test their new cars on the track, following the shakedown behind closed doors in Barcelona at the end of January.

Williams made up for lost time by getting in 145 laps with Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon after missing the pre-season shakedown.

Newcomers Cadillac managed 107 laps, with Sergio Perez 14th of 18 drivers who set a time. Audi, the former Sauber team, had Nico Hulkenberg ninth fastest with 73 laps. AFP, REUTERS