Formula 1 is in Bahrain for pre-season testing this week and we’ll get back to that in a minute but first let’s talk about Lewis Hamilton and his most recent social media activity. It was sports related, but not his own sport. Instead Lewis’s mind was on football and what Vinícius Júnior is going through right now after yesterday’s match between Real Madrid and Benfica.

It happened after Vini scored the game’s only goal and while he was celebrating, Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni could be seen saying something to him as he deliberately covered his mouth with his jersey. Vini then alerted the referee to the racism. And of course Prestianni and his team are denying it and gaslighting, the usual racist playbook.

Lewis has always been about using his platform to raise awareness about injustice and to support those who have been affected by it. As he writes on his IG story, he’s standing with Vinícius Júnior and he wants everyone to know. 

Lewis Hamilton's Instagram story

Now back to the paddock – there’s been cautious optimism from Ferrari during pre-season as the new car isn’t a flop, at least not yet. Lewis himself has talked about how he’s moved past last year and has worked through the disappointment of 2025, spending the winter on physical and mental improvements. He definitely doesn’t sound as dejected as he was, especially since as he said, he’s no longer driving a car he inherited but a fresh one that was built with some of his input. It’s still too early to really know and the whole point of this process is that the teams are continually making tweaks but at least he’s not in the sads the way he was a few months ago.

The drivers’ photo shoot happened today. Here’s the photo that F1 released…

And here’s the behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot, like wrangling cats.

@f1 so it turns out organising 22 drivers to hold a pose for five seconds is actually really hard 😅 #f1 #f1drivers #f1testing #motorsport ♬ original sound - Formula 1

But here’s a moment from that photo shoot for the gossips – and it’s George Russell asking the important questions!

Drive to Survive released its latest trailer for season 8 last week ahead of the premiere next Friday. And most of us who follow F1 are tuning in for all the regular entertainment we know from the series but, let’s be honest, the big draw is the Christian Horner gossip after he was sacked midway through last week. What will next year’s gossip be? Can Lewis stop the DTS producers from making it Kim Kardashian?

Lewis Hamilton at a press conference on the first day of the second Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, February 18, 2026

Photo credits: Hasan Bratic/SIPA/Marco Canoniero/Shutterstock

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