Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula 1 appearance for Ferrari looks set to be in a previous car at the start of next year, with an appearance in the post-season Abu Dhabi test now ruled out.
The seven-time champion is joining the Maranello squad for 2025, after making a decision at the start of this year to leave Mercedes after what will have been 12 seasons with the German manufacturer.
There had been some hope from Ferrari that bedding in its partnership with Hamilton could get an early head start if Mercedes had released the Briton for the post-season tyre test that takes place in Abu Dhabi on the Tuesday after the F1 season finale in December.
However, Motorsport.com understands that that scenario has now been ruled out, with Mercedes having committed Hamilton to some end-of-year promotional commitments – which includes an appearance for team title sponsor Petronas on the day the Abu Dhabi test takes place.
Hamilton’s lack of availability for the Abu Dhabi test means that Ferrari will have to wait until the start of next year to be able to get him behind the wheel of one of its cars.
Beyond a filming day, a run in the 2025 challenger is not allowed outside of the pre-season Bahrain test, but Ferrari is planning to get Hamilton out in one of its previous cars before then.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said that the provisional idea is to make use of one or two of the squad’s ‘Testing of Previous Cars’ days to give Hamilton his first run, which he thinks will be more than enough to get him up to speed.
“I'm not sure that he needs tons of hours of acclimatisation,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com
“He is experienced enough to be quick on the first day, or at least very soon. We'll have one or two TPC days, plus the test in Bahrain, and that will be enough.”
F1’s TPC rules allow teams to run cars that were “designed and constructed in order to comply with the Technical Regulations of any of the three (3) calendar years falling immediately prior to the calendar year preceding the year of the championship.”
This means that since this year, teams have been able to run their 2022 cars, the first generation of machinery built for the new ground effect regulations.
Ferrari would most probably hand an outing to Hamilton in a previous car at its own Fiorano test track, which is right next door to its Maranello factory.
Vasseur said that work was taking place at the factory to finalise a programme to get Hamilton up to speed with Ferrari’s operations before the start of the 2025 campaign, but it was not something he was personally getting involved with right now.
“For sure we have part of the team already focusing on ’25, on the test plan, on the communication and so, with Lewis being part of this,” he said. “But not on the race team and it's not on my mind.”
