What to expect from Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari

It’s the most anticipated driver move in recent Formula 1 history: After 12 years at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton will become a Ferrari driver as of New Year’s day.

His first race in red will be at the season opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16, but details of what comes before that have been scarce up until now.

Speaking at Ferrari’s annual end-of-season press conference, team principal Fred Vasseur provided some insight into what the seven-time world champion’s first few months would look like in his new job.

When will Hamilton first drive a Ferrari Formula 1 car?

The exact date and location of Hamilton’s first outing in a Ferrari have not been set in stone just yet. F1’s preseason test — at which all ten teams will be on track for three days in Bahrain — will take place from Feb. 26-28, but there will be opportunities for Hamilton to make his debut in a Ferrari F1 car before then.

Once his contract starts in 2025, he will be free to get behind the wheel of a two-year-old Ferrari (most likely the SF-23 from 2023) as permitted by F1’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) regulations.

Vassuer confirmed Hamilton would make use of the TPC regulations in order to familiarize himself with a recent Ferrari, but said the date and location would depend on weather conditions in northern Italy early next year.

Ferrari’s own test track, Fiorano, is a likely destination for his first test, but nearby Imola and Mugello could serve as alternatives if needed.

Pirelli also has a 2025 tyre test planned for late January at the French circuit Magny Cours, which would provide an opportunity for Hamilton to get behind the wheel of a 2024-spec Ferrari.

“We will have the occasion to do a TPC or Pirelli test day,” Vasseur said. “But it’s closely linked to the weather, and we didn’t take a decision [on a date or venue].

“It’s always a challenge, starting from the beginning of January until the launch of the season. It means that for sure it’s critical that you have only six weeks [before preseason testing], it’s not easy.

“But I think he’s also coming with his own experience. He’s not the rookie of the year. It means that I’m not worried at all about this.

“It’s also the continuity of the previous [technical] regulations [from 2024] and so that means for us, we have some reference. I’m not worried, but it’s true that it’s a challenge.”

When will Ferrari’s 2025 car be launched?

The traditional car launch season has been slightly complicated next year by F1’s own season launch event in London on Feb. 18, at which all 10 ten teams will reveal their 2025 liveries.

After taking to the stage at London’s O2 Arena with F1’s 19 other drivers, Hamilton will then travel to Italy with Vasseur and teammate Charles Leclerc for the launch of Ferrari’s actual car at Maranello the following day.

Ferrari will be able to make use of its Fiorano test track to complete the first few miles with the new car, which is permitted under rules allowing for demonstration runs (limited to nine miles) or filming days (limited to 31 miles).

The new Ferrari will then be packed up and flown to Bahrain where three days of F1 preseason testing will get underway from Feb. 26-28.

Vasseur confirmed Ferrari would not hold a separate event earlier in the year purely to announce the arrival of Hamilton at the team.

“No, no, we have to be focused on the season,” he said. “It will be a very tight period between the first day and launch, it’s a matter of weeks and I want to have everybody focused on performance.

“It means that we will have the launch of the championship [on Feb. 18], we will have the launch of the car [on Feb. 19]. For me, it’s already two events, and it’s far too much.

“It’s far enough, let’s say and…no, no, I want to be focused on development performance and not to do the show.”

Is Ferrari expecting Hamilton to be up to speed straight away?

After finishing seventh in this year’s standings, Hamilton joins Ferrari off the back of his worst finish in an F1 drivers’ championship to date.

It’s no secret that he struggled to gel with his Mercedes W15 in 2024, and he was comprehensively outperformed by teammate George Russell both in qualifying (19-5) and on championship points (245-223).

However, Vasseur believes news of Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes at the start of the year put him in an awkward position at his old team this season, and is confident he will have a better environment in 2025.

“He had very good races in Vegas, in Abu Dhabi [in 2024] and I was never, really, never, never, never worried about the situation,” Vasseur said.

“I’m really convinced that it was the situation, and I don’t want to blame Lewis or Mercedes, but this situation, it’s not easy to manage and I can understand that if it’s not going very well, you can suffer of this relationship.

“It was not very well in his mind, that he was clear in Brazil about this, for example, but he also did very, very well on the last couple of events. I’m not worried at all.”

Vasseur said Hamilton would also have several simulator sessions on top of pre-season testing to get up to speed with the feel of the 2025 car.

“For sure we know that we will have a lot of procedures to assimilate during these couple of days, but I think he is experienced enough to do it, that we’ll have the advantage to have the simulator,” he added.

“Obviously he will be able to do a race simulation, qualy simulation into the simulator, and to be fully prepared with the steering wheel and the particularities of the race. But honestly, I’m not worried about this. It’s not the biggest challenge.”

How easy was it to convince Hamilton to come to Ferrari?

In the immediate aftermath of Hamilton’s news breaking in February this year, Vasseur was reluctant to discuss the topic while Ferrari still had a full season with Carlos Sainz at the team.

But speaking one year on from the negotiations, he said Hamilton required little convincing to make the switch from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2025.

“In 2023 we won more races than Mercedes, first, and the beginning of the season was good also,” he said. “It was not too difficult to convince him that Ferrari will be a good project.

“And I think he had the project to drive for Ferrari in his mind for at least 22 years or 23 years, because we were discussing about this in 2004. It means that it was not too difficult.

“I think sometimes it’s also a matter of coincidence, or to align all the planets – that he is on the market, that Ferrari has a seat available, and so and so and so. But the contact was an easy one, we started to discuss one year ago and it was not difficult to convince him at all.”

How will Ferrari manage a rivalry with Leclerc?

Hamilton’s struggles in qualifying in 2024 create a big question mark over how he will compare with new teammate Leclerc in 2025, who is widely regarded to be one of the fastest drivers over a single lap in F1.

If a title is on the line next year, managing expectations and setting boundaries between the two drivers will fall on Vasseur, but the Ferrari team boss believes the desire of the two drivers to emulate each other’s performances will ultimately be a good thing.

“You know that it’s always a challenge,” Vasseur said. “I have my challenge this year between Charles and Carlos, but I think it was part of the performance.

“I’m really convinced that the emulation into the team is key for the performance of the team, and between Charles and Carlos, we had some moments.

“But at the end of the day, I think it was beneficial for the performance of the team. Charles, Lewis, I’m not particularly worried about this.

“They have a huge mutual respect, they know each other, they are speaking about this for months now. And I think it’s much better to fight for 1-2 or 2-3 on the grid than to fight for 19-20.

“And I think it’s a good issue for a team to have this kind of discussion, this kind of approach. And I’m really convinced again that the performance of the team is coming also from the emulation between the two.”

Who will engineer Hamilton in 2025?

Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes brings an end to his 12-year partnership with race engineer Peter Bonnington. Together they won 84 races and six titles – a record unmatched by any other driver and engineer in Formula 1 history, but Bonnington is set to remain at Mercedes in 2025.

Riccardo Adami, who engineered Sainz for the past four years, is tipped to remain in his role next year, but Vasseur was reluctant to confirm details of Hamilton’s exact engineering team. He did make clear, however, that Ferrari would not attempt to replicate the engineering team Hamilton had at Mercedes.

“The target is not to do a copy paste of what Lewis is doing and to try to attract all the people from Mercedes and to do a Mercedes team,” he said. “They were not champions the last two or three years, it means that we have to do different and we will do different with our team, our guys and all resources.

“We have to find the best way to manage Lewis. I know him pretty well, but I don’t want to do at all a copy paste of what he did in the past.”

Will Hamilton need to move to Italy?

One rumour that emerged since Hamilton’s move was announced was that he would move to Italy to be closer to Ferrari’s base in Maranello.

Although he has properties around the world, Hamilton is domiciled in Monaco, making the commute to Ferrari’s factory shorter next year than it ever was when he had to visit Mercedes’ factory in the U.K.

His new teammate Leclerc also lives in Monaco and is known to make the five-hour road trip to Maranello, occasionally driving in his own Ferrari, when he needs to.

Vasseur said there was no pressure on Hamilton to move closer to the factory, especially as the dense schedule of races next season means the two drivers are away for large parts of the year.

“I think it’s not the issue because we will start the season doing some tests, then you are going for the first five races in six weeks that we won’t be able to come back in the factory.

“You know that the seasons now are a bit crazy.”

Hamilton has also spoken about learning Italian on his arrival at Ferrari, but Vasseur, who has yet to learn the language himself, said it is not essential for the job.

“It’s a touchy point for me,” he joked. “You know that 99 percent of the job is in English.

“I think it’s good to speak a little bit Italian for the mechanics and for the relationship into the team.

“But I’m not sure that it’s crucial for the performance.”