
Nearly a year has passed since Lewis Hamilton was first announced as a Ferrari driver for the F1 2025 season. Now, he’s finally about to settle into life in Maranello.
A new era for the Scuderia is about to begin — and here’s how Lewis Hamilton and new teammate Charles Leclerc will be getting started.
Lewis Hamilton: The Ferrari era is set to begin
Though Lewis Hamilton has already paid a few informal visits to his new team, first in Abu Dhabi and again in Maranello, the seven-time World Champion will officially begin his work with Scuderia Ferrari on Monday, January 20.
His preliminary work saw him speak with retired racer Sebastian Vettel; see, Hamilton will be working with Riccardo Adami as his race engineer, and Adami has previous experience working with Vettel.
Hamilton has taken advantage of that previous relationship by chatting with Vettel about what to expect. He also made a point of introducing himself to Adami, and even of moving closer to the Ferrari headquarters to be on hand during this learning period.
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Hamilton’s first official week at Maranello is set to be packed, Autoracer reports.
His first test behind the wheel of a Ferrari will come on the morning of January 22, with Autoracer noting that both the SF-23 and the F1-75 should be available. Hamilton will kick off the day behind the wheel before passing the baton to Charles Leclerc for the afternoon test session.
While that may be the crowning moment of the week, there are first many minor tasks to tick off the list.
First and foremost, Hamilton will need a comprehensive tour of the Ferrari headquarters, and he’s expected to lay eyes on the team’s upcoming 2025 machine for the first time.
Then will come the process of actually fitting Hamilton into the car. He’ll need to undergo a seat fitting to ensure his new 2025 challenger is perfectly fitted to his body and his needs. And while he’s already met Adami, Hamilton will need to get acquainted with the various personnel in charge of the various design and manufacturing departments that make up a race team.
That is expected to give way to some of the first technical meetings of the year, where Hamilton will sit down with the engineers to review expectations for the season and begin to make his voice heard in the development process.
Further, it’s likely that both the engineers and Hamilton will have their own unique “language” when it comes to conveying certain details about a car’s handling. This is the time to begin learning that language.
Understandably, expectations are high. The greatest driver in modern Formula 1 is about to join forces with the series’ most storied team, with the expectation that they’ll work together towards championships and breaking records. And this week will begin the hard work of bringing that to fruition.
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