Next Sunday, Lewis Hamilton will finally make his much-anticipated debut behind the wheel of a Ferrari at the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne on Sunday, March 16. Over the past few months, the British driver has only had the opportunity to train using the simulator, unlike Sebastian Vettel who joined Ferrari ten years ago. After leaving Red Bull at the end of the 2014 Formula 1 season, Sebastian Vettel joined Scuderia Ferrari well ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and even though he didn’t participate in the post-season tests in Abu Dhabi, he had the chance to accumulate much more track experience by completing several tests at Fiorano.
In Lewis Hamilton’s case, his contract with Mercedes kept him bound until December 31, 2024, preventing him from driving a Ferrari car before mid-January. The British driver views this as a disadvantage in terms of competitiveness.
In an interview with RacingNews365, he said: “I feel there’s still a lot to do, and fortunately, I had the chance to drive the 2023 car. This allowed me to compare it with the 2024 car and understand where issues with previous versions were resolved and where we’ve improved.” – the seven-time Formula 1 world champion pointed out.
Lewis Hamilton continued: “I didn’t get to do the end-of-year tests, so I started relatively late compared to others before me. When Sebastian was here, I believe he started as early as November, gaining two extra months compared to me. Personally, I had little time to settle in and a lot of work to do during this period, but I enjoy diving right in and understanding how things work.”
Finally, the Brit added: “We’re following the program, and it seems like we’ve built great foundations. However, we won’t really know where we stand until next week. We are fully aware that there’s still work to be done.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
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