All eyes are on Lewis Hamilton as he approaches his official session debut with Ferrari during pre-season testing in Bahrain this week.
The seven-time champion has spent the last two months preparing for his new gig with Ferrari, which will see him partner Charles Leclerc for the next two seasons.
Hamilton is hoping to discover his form of old in a car which is expected to be in contention for the drivers’ and constructors’ championships this year.
It could be the first time that fans get to see him battle the likes of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for race victories.
Fred Vasseur thinks Hamilton is ‘exactly’ who Leclerc needed at Ferrari to develop as a driver and become a serious title contender. There’s plenty to learn from his more experienced teammate.
Leclerc could receive ‘favourable’ strategies from Ferrari if he out-qualifies Hamilton and gets himself further up the road before the start of races. It could be a title-defining factor.
Lewis Hamilton was caught completely ‘off guard’ by Ferrari F1 car’s vulnerability in testing
Hamilton’s preparation for the new season hasn’t been 100% ideal, since he managed to crash the SF-23 during a test at Barcelona last month.
Subsequent damages prevented Leclerc from running in the afternoon, but crucially, it denied him extra laps in his new environment.
Vasseur says Hamilton has brought ‘mega’ enthusiasm behind the scenes, but performance is what will win them championships.
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According to a report from ESPN, the Brit was caught ‘off guard’ by the wind during his testing crash for Ferrari.
Either way, the underlying positive will be that he now knows where the limit of the car lies a bit better than he did before the accident.
When will Lewis Hamilton drive for Ferrari during F1 2025 pre-season?
With the only pre-season test of 2025 set to kick off in Bahrain this week, there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding Hamilton’s first laps.
Hamilton will drive for Ferrari on Wednesday morning at pre-season testing before Leclerc takes over for the afternoon session.
The team’s schedule on Thursday and Friday has not been announced yet, but they could opt to give both drivers a full uninterrupted day each.
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That’s assuming they face no reliability hiccups, which would be disastrous for them if they were to lose any of their limited running.
Don’t expect them to be going too fast this week though, with most keen to hide what they may be capable of until the Australian Grand Prix.
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