As he continues his Ferrari acclimatisation, Lewis Hamilton feels further along in that process than he did with his past teams.

And this – Hamilton agrees – is a crucial boost going into his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix, warning the competition that he will need less than “six months” to learn the team.

Lewis Hamilton will not need ‘six months’ to understand Ferrari

Hamilton is living his childhood dream after securing his move to Ferrari, the seven-time World Champion calling an end to his record-filled Mercedes career to head for Maranello.

This is only Hamilton’s second F1 career move, his first coming in 2013 when he left McLaren for Mercedes, though back then, the engine remained the same. This time, he is using Ferrari F1 power for the first time, with expectations and scrutiny high heading into his debut season, after a challenging Mercedes swansong year.

However, Hamilton – who tested the SF-23 and an adapted SF-24 before experiencing Ferrari’s new challenger at Fiorano – is happy with the progress being made ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, progress which he feels has been made faster than with his former teams.

In an interview with Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz, Hamilton was asked how crucial his preparation work with Ferrari so far has been, having used up his four allowed TPC [testing of previous car] days, as well as driving an adapted SF-24 for Pirelli tyre testing duties and, most recently, getting behind the wheel of the SF-25 for the first time at Fiorano.

“It is incredibly crucial,” Hamilton replied. “You’re trying to pick up as much as you can, as fast as possible.

“I’m very, very fortunate to have the experience of going from one team to another when I went to Mercedes, and obviously a much different point in my life, but did the best I could with what I knew then. Fortunately, now I have even more experience, and I’m able to, I feel, speed that process up even more.

“But it is a very, very steep learning curve. It’s a huge organisation. They do things completely different to what I’ve done in the last 10 years, for 12 years, for example.

“So, yeah, I mean, I don’t know how much you can shortcut it. You still want to just build the wall piece by piece, and that’s what we’re doing.

“But I feel like we have started and built a good foundation of trust between each other, the working processes and practices we have. I feel like… it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be six months to learn how the team operates. I feel like we’re further along than I have experienced in the past.”

When Kravitz put it to Hamilton that this is “crucial” going into his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton confirmed: “It is.”

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Hamilton made his Formula 1 debut at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix with McLaren, and as the race at Albert Park resumes its position as the season-opener for F1 2025, Hamilton is having flashbacks.

“To be honest, it feels like what I remember having my first Grand Prix in Melbourne,” he said. “The first Grand Prix in 2007.

“It’s that sort of excitement in the build-up being that it’s the first time with Ferrari.

“They obviously finished the season very strong last year. They were second in the Constructors’. We’re under no illusion that we have a lot of work to do. It’s going to be very, very close between all these top cars and top teams, and so we’re just trying to be diligent and everyone’s really level-headed and calm.

“Everyone believes that each of us, every single one of us can improve, and we’re all trying to sharpen our tools to be the best we can be.

“But as I said, the energy is there, the motivation is there and more and the dedication is there and more, which is great to see.”

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