While Carlos Sainz has been given the green light to represent Williams in the Abu Dhabi test, Lewis Hamilton has not been given the same opportunity.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff confirmed that brief talks took place between he and Hamilton, but detailing the busy post-season schedule in place with Hamilton before he joins Ferrari, there was no opening for an early debut.

Lewis Hamilton will not get early Ferrari debut

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Ahead of the F1 2024 campaign, Hamilton agreed a blockbuster multi-year deal with Ferrari, effective as of F1 2025, but the prospect of debuting before then, in the Abu Dhabi F1 2024 post-season test, was mooted. After all, Ferrari freed Sainz, who Hamilton replaces, to represent his new team Williams in the test.

However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said he did not ask his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff to allow the same deal with Hamilton.

“They have a contract. I did not even ask Toto,” Vasseur told the media, including PlanetF1.com, in a Las Vegas GP press conference.

“I have to expect this, that it’s not because we are doing something for Carlos, that everybody has to do the same.”

Wolff said he and Hamilton very briefly addressed the topic, but with a busy farewell programme scheduled, representing Ferrari in Abu Dhabi was not an option.

“No, Fred didn’t ask,” Wolff confirmed.

“I think it’s a difference also maybe going to Williams.

“We have contractual agreements with sponsors. We’re having a farewell for Lewis. We’re having lots of activities that are planned.

“And him and I, we spoke about it shortly, and he said, ‘I guess that’s not going to work’. And I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to work’. And that was the whole thing. So I don’t think Fred is particularly sad.”

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Vasseur would praise the “professional attitude” which Sainz has shown in F1 2024, even though he knew for the entirety that this would be his last year with Ferrari, so he did not want to stand in the Spaniard’s way when it came to making an early start with Williams.

“The story with Carlos is that I want to thank Carlos for the collaboration,” said Vasseur, “I don’t want to block him or whatever.

“I think he did a very good job with us this season, and a very professional one, because it could have been easy to, not to give up, but not to have the so professional attitude.

“And for me, the best way to thank Carlos was also to give him the opportunity to do the test with Williams.”

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