As of January 1, Lewis Hamilton has officially become a driver for Scuderia Ferrari HP. The Maranello team must now organize several tests with cars from previous championships to allow the Briton to familiarize himself with the new procedures he will need to perform during race weekends in a few months.
In recent years, the FIA has introduced very strict limits on the tests that each driver can conduct using cars from past seasons. For this reason, Lewis Hamilton will complete the allowed 1,000 kilometers spread over four days.
We had already reported in advance the possible date of Lewis Hamilton’s debut with the Scuderia, now practically confirmed by Motorsport Italia: the seven-time world champion will take his first laps behind the wheel of a Ferrari at the Fiorano circuit, the Maranello team’s home track. There remains some uncertainty about the exact date, which could change depending on weather conditions, but the chosen days are January 20 and 21.
The Italian side will then move to Barcelona at the Circuit de Catalunya, where they hope to find milder temperatures to continue the adaptation program. For this reason, the window for hitting the track has been extended to four days, allowing them to select the most suitable day for the planned work.
For Lewis Hamilton, these 1,000 kilometers will be the most crucial of the season, as he will need to unlearn what he has done with Mercedes over the years and quickly adapt to the new procedures and the different steering wheel used by Ferrari. This preparation will be essential before starting pre-season testing in Bahrain and the first World Championship Grand Prix in Australia.
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