The TPC regulation
1000 km per driver and a maximum of 4 days available. This is the regulation regarding private tests that each main driver can use throughout a season. With today’s session, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc reach three days each (one in Fiorano, two in Barcelona), and for purely weather-related reasons, Lewis Hamilton likely covered a few more kilometers than Leclerc in Fiorano, as the afternoon weather was less favorable compared to the morning, when Hamilton made his debut in Ferrari’s backyard.
It is obviously strategic for the Maranello team to take advantage of this testing allowance at this point in the season to accelerate Lewis Hamilton’s learning curve. His acclimatization to the Red Planet also includes another two days of crucial testing next week, this time at the wheel of the SF24, which won five races in 2024 (Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, along with McLaren drivers, will be on track in Barcelona for Pirelli tests dedicated to the 2026 tires).
Last day for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
Aside from the Pirelli tests, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will still have one more day available for a TPC session in 2025. According to autoracer.it, tomorrow—weather permitting—this three-day test will continue with Antonio Giovinazzi and Dino Beganovic (a Ferrari Driver Academy member set to debut in F2, a category he already sampled at the end of 2024) behind the wheel.
Ferrari, in any case, does not intend to provide unnecessary information to rivals, as reported by today’s edition of Il Corriere della Sera: “Total focus and closed doors, Ferrari isolates itself in a bubble on its march towards the World Championship,” writes the newspaper. “The tests continue behind closed doors in Barcelona and will conclude today. Even the number of laps remains a mystery, since tests with old-generation cars are limited to 1000 km per year per driver, and the team wants to avoid giving rivals any indication of how many kilometers are still available.”
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