Lewis Hamilton drives a Ferrari F1 car for the first time in a test at the team’s new Fiorano track ahead of the 2025 season | F1 news
Lewis Hamilton drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time at his new team’s test track in Italy.
Hamilton started work at the Prancing Horse’s famous Maranello factory for the first time on Monday after leaving Mercedes at the end of 2024 after 12 years with the Silver Arrows.
The seven-time champion stunned F1 last February by signing for Ferrari from this year in the sport’s highest-profile transfer of all time, and his first drive in one of their iconic red cars has been eagerly awaited ever since.
And on Wednesday morning, Hamilton drove the team’s 2023 car around their Fiorano circuit, which is near the team’s factory.
Sky Sports News’ cameras – and reporter Craig Slater – were on hand to capture the historic moment, which happened as Hamilton started running at 9.16am local time.
After releasing the first photo of Hamilton in a red racing suit on Tuesday night, Ferrari shared the Briton’s new helmet in a social media post on Wednesday morning shortly before he took to the track.
The blockbuster Hamilton-Ferrari move united the most successful F1 driver in history with the most successful team.
Hamilton, who turned 40 earlier this month, has won a record 105 races and a career-best seven world championships in total, while Ferrari leads the all-time table for triumphs in both the drivers’ (15) and constructors’ (16) titles.
But the Scuderia have not won a title since 2008, although after a strong finish last season they finished within 14 points of new constructors’ champion McLaren in second place.
Why did Hamilton test the old Ferrari and what was the purpose of the test?
F1 testing rules outside of race weekends have long been restricted due to cost controls.
All teams are still working on their new 2025 cars behind closed doors in their factories with just over a month to go before pre-season testing in Bahrain (February 26-28).
With the latest challengers still in development, Ferrari took advantage of the regulation that allows teams to run cars from certain recent seasons to give Hamilton an early look at their track work practices and the unique aspects of their cars.
It also gives Hamilton his first chance to try a Ferrari engine, having used Mercedes power exclusively for the first 18 years of his F1 career, first at McLaren and then at the German manufacturer’s team.
The 2025 testing of previous cars (TPC) rule allows teams to run cars from the 2023, 2022 or 2021 seasons although, in a change for this year, current drivers racing such machines are limited to 1,000km over a maximum of four days across the calendar year.
Ferrari takes advantage of the first of its TPC days at Fiorano.
Team principal Frederic Vasseur also hinted before Christmas that Hamilton could feature at one of Pirelli’s tire test days in January and February.
Watch all 24 race weekends of the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16. Stream Sky Sports with INSTANT – No contract, cancel anytime
