After Lewis Hamilton ‘s historic first outing at Fiorano, Ferrari waste no time in starting preparations for 2025 with their extremely strong driver pairing.
While Leclerc knows the Prancing Horse team’s systems by heart, the 7-time Champion faces a crucial period of adaptation.
The seven-time world champion described his first in red as “one of the best moments of my life”. However, he concluded that “there is a lot of work to do” . On this note, Fiorano was only the beginning of a busy schedule before stepping into the 2025 car.
Alongside TPC testing with the SF-23, Hamilton will test the 2024 car for Pirelli’s tests on February 4th and 5th.
Of the 1000 kilometers granted during the year for the “TPC” testing, Ferrari used 89 km for Lewis. Meanwhile, Charles, who had to drive on a wet track, logged a total of 42 km .
For Leclerc, the test was useful to get up to speed. On the other side of the garage, getting Hamilton acclimatized with the team’s methodology and technical resources was key.
This certainly isn’t trivial in the build-up to the debut of Ferrari’s 2025 car and the start of pre-season testing.
Work continues for Fred Vasseur’s team
According to information from AutoRacer.it , in addition to the three-day TPC test with the SF-23, Ferrari will be in Barcelona on February 4 and 5 to take part in a two-day test organized by Pirelli with 2026 configuration tires.
On this occasion, Lewis Hamilton will be driving the SF-24 for the very first time , which, unlike the training tests, the Federation allows him to use.
The 2024 car will be specially adapted to test the tires of the next generation of regulations. Last year’s SF-24 will be equipped with experimental tires , which though maintaining 18-inch rims will have a 25mm narrower tread on the front axle – and 30mm on the rear compared to 2025.
This is program focused on one circuit on the calendar, providing various references to the team and the Italian tire manufacturer.
Although expected to be cold, according to the latest indications, the Spanish track should be dry during Ferrari’s running time.
The work program at Montmelò will first begin with the TPC where the SF-23 will be seen in action again, where Leclerc and Hamilton will alternate again on January 28, 29 and 30.
Ferrari has already landed in Barcelona to prepare the garages that will host first the SF-23 and then the SF-24. The two drivers, in the meantime, will carry out simulator sessions, before arriving in Spain presumably on Monday.
Hamilton described his first day in the car as “very positive” , a session that would have gone even better than in the simulator, where in terms of comfort there are inevitable adjustments that need to be worked on hard at the factory before returning to the track.
