The Ferrari crew has been given one day by team boss Fred Vasseur for excitement over the arrival of Lewis Hamilton, then they must “turn this page”.

After almost a year of knowing that Lewis Hamilton was to leave Mercedes and realise a childhood dream by joining Ferrari, that date of arrival is finally here, 1 January marking the new year and a new F1 era as Hamilton takes in his first day as a Ferrari driver.

Ferrari get one day to be excited about Lewis Hamilton

The most successful F1 driver linking-up with the iconic Ferrari team has sparked widespread excitement in the world of Formula 1, that buzz extending to the Ferrari crew. But, they do not have long until they are expected to get down to business.

“Everybody all over the world is excited and for sure, the mechanics are also excited, but because it’s always exciting to have someone who is a seven-times World Champion into the car,” Vasseur told Sky F1.

“But I think after the day one, we’ll have to turn this page and to be focused on the job.”

And when it comes to controlling the excitement, that applies to Hamilton too.

Hamilton is expected to receieve some Ferrari TPC [testing of previous car] time before Ferrari launch their F1 2025 challenger on 19 February, ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Put to him that it will be emotional for Hamilton to drive a Ferrari F1 car for the first time, Vasseur replied: “Yeah, it’s true that it’s quite emotional, because I think he has this moment in his mind for probably 20 years.”

He then joked: “It means that it will be emotional, but it has to be emotional for one lap! And then, to be focussed.”

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Hamilton will find a different type of emotion and passion at Ferrari, Vasseur points out, though he does not see any issues with handling that for the seven-time World Champion.

“You know that every single team is different for sure, but we are all chasing the same goal with the same approach,” Vasseur added.

“What is a bit different is the passion or the emotion around the team, but I think Lewis is well prepared to manage this. I think it’s much easier to arrive somewhere when the passion is at the top than the opposite. I’m not worried at all.”

Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz moving on to Williams under a multi-year deal.

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