Ferrari Exclusive: Hamilton to begin simulator work on January 20th

Giuliano Duchessa
14/01/2025

Lewis Hamilton has officially become a Ferrari driver , the first World Champion to drive for the Scuderia since Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton’s historic arrival was shared by the official Formula 1 account at the stroke of the first seconds of January 1, 2025. Ferrari, on the other hand, waited a little longer to announce this sensational news using social media, choosing a specific time – 16 :44

This choice naturally includes the numbers of the two drivers who will wear (darker) red next season. The Leclerc-Hamilton era in Maranello is about to begin from an operational point of view. Frederic Vasseur has no intention of indulging in celebrations and festivities, with a season to prepare at best.

Lewis Hamilton’s arrival scheduled: Ferrari to release a summary of the first official day in Maranello

The arrival of the multiple English champion in Italy has been planned for some time. As revealed by AutoRacer , the Englishman has already been to Maranello informally and privately several times .

January will be a short but important month after the winter preparation. Sir Lewis knows the importance of ensuring good integration and teamwork.


Inside Ferrari there is optimism and enthusiasm for this highly anticipated partnership. Hamilton will concretely begin his new journey as an official driver of Scuderia Ferrari in a few days.

His program in Maranello will feature meetings with engineers, training on the simulator and track time.

Of course, there is also the unveiling of Ferrari’s livery during Formula 1’s launch event in London. The day after that, he will test his first Ferrari in Fiorano.

This event will rightly be met with great enthusiasm. However attention must not be diverted too much from the track and the 2025 season that is already around the corner.

Lewis Hamilton’s ‘first times’ in the simulator and at Fiorano

The work schedule for the beginning of this year will be very intense. “The 2025 car will be 99% different from the SF-24” revealed Frederic Vasseur to the press, including AutoRacer, after last season’s conclusion.

Ferrari’s new single-seater is in the production phase and the drivers will soon be actively involved with simulator sessions and on-track training.

There is no special program planned for Lewis Hamilton, but he, like Charles Leclerc, will be involved in some test sessions to begin getting to know his new team.

Lewis Hamilton’s first on-track experience should be on January 22nd.

Ferrari also planning to use the track for 3 days of testing (21-23 January), assuming good weather conditions.

Hamilton will be driving the Ferrari F1-75 with his historic number 44.

His first simulator session is scheduled for January 20th , inside the Scuderia Ferrari factory.

Ferrari is the team that makes the most use of tests with previous cars, taking advantage of the Fiorano track (but also that of Mugello) to train its drivers. This goes for younger and more experienced names. With that said, a regulatory change is worth noting .

From this year, in fact, there will be an imposed limit of 20 testing days. There is also a limit for all the drivers who are registered in the Formula 1 championship.

None of them will be able to do more than 1000km with the racing cars of the 2021/22/23 seasons – spread over a maximum of four days. An important change is also noteworthy regarding the cars available.

The rule no longer requires using only single-seaters that have raced at least 2 championships ago. Instead, on-track testing with previous cars will be determined by the calendar.

This implies that, in Ferrari’s case, the SF-23 also becomes a car usable for TPC tests , since all cars that have raced since the 2023 calendar year become usable.

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