For Ferrari, F1 2025 launch season will go beyond the O2 livery reveal event, with the date set to say hello to their new challenger.

And that date is 19 February, the day after the London launch, where we will see the racing machine which Lewis Hamilton will drive in his first season as a Ferrari driver, for the first time.

First Lewis Hamilton-era Ferrari launches 19 February

Formula 1 is shaking things up for 2025, as in an unprecedented launch season event, all 10 teams will be present at London’s O2 Arena on 18 February to show off their F1 2025 liveries, but it is expected to be exactly that, a group livery reveal, rather than the actual challengers being on show for the new season.

But, we will not need to wait long to see the 2025 Ferrari – currently under its Project 677 veil – with Ferrari confirming that they will launch their car for the new season the following day.

Get ready to meet our 2025 challenger#ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/RZEZxRJ4YG

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 18, 2024

All eyes will be on Ferrari after the Scuderia picked up the services of seven-time World Champion Hamilton on a multi-year deal from F1 2025, Hamilton making the blockbuster move from Mercedes where he set new records such as most wins, poles and podiums in F1 history, as well as winning six of his seven World titles with Mercedes to move level with Ferrari icon Michael Schumacher.

And as Hamilton’s pursuit of that record eighth crown rolls over into his Ferrari career, 19 February is when we will see the challenger which marks a new era for Hamilton, his first Ferrari creation with which he will chase that record.

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It was not a smooth final season in Mercedes colours for Hamilton, who suffered a resounding 19-5 qualifying defeat to team-mate George Russell across the season, his one-lap struggles leading to Hamilton claiming “I’m definitely not fast anymore” at the penultimate round in Qatar.

And 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg – the only Mercedes driver to beat Hamilton to the title in that team – believes those qualifying struggles will weigh on his mind as he takes his first steps at Ferrari.

“He is at a place where he’s saying to himself, ‘I’m not fast anymore’, and that’s really singled out to qualifying,” said Rosberg on the Sky F1 podcast.

“The problem with our sport is that if you don’t qualify high up, you really struggle, even though he still seems to be at his very, very best in race pace – we’ve seen over and over again his racing pace is just still insanely strong.

“But when you qualify poorly all the time almost, and he says himself he’s just not quick enough in qualifying, then that’s something that was weighing on the shoulders so much during the end of the year, because you know you when you get beaten from your team-mate who’s younger, and let’s remember, the team-mate is not a World Champion, the team-mate is just a four-time race winner [three, sic.].

“And when you get beaten all the time, and in the case of Lewis, who’s statistically the GOAT [greatest of all time, ed.], then that’s really tough, and especially going forward.

“Now, he has two years at Ferrari, and he will 100% be very, very worried. ‘What if this form of mine continues, like, was it just the car at Mercedes, or was it something else? And what if this form of mine continues to Ferrari?’

“If it does, it would really be quite a painful adventure, I would say, because that’s not what Ferrari hired him for.

“Ferrari hired him to be on a level with Leclerc and fight for World Championships. So I think he will be very worried about that, and we can only hope that he finds back to his good old self with a reset at Ferrari and is, once again, the brilliant driver we know.”

F1 2025 pre-season testing will take place from 26-28 February at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March, with Hamilton set for some Ferrari TPC [Testing of Previous Car] running before heading to Bahrain testing.

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