Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc wasted no time to fly back to Italy after F1 75 and get their first taste of Ferrari’s car for the 2025 season by lapping Fiorano in the SF-25.
The Briton and Monegasque took to the Scuderia’s private test track on Wednesday in front of thousands of members of the Tifosi. Like when Hamilton got his first laps in a Ferrari with their 2023 car, their passionate supporters would not miss a chance to see their new driver.
Hamilton has joined Leclerc in Maranello after moving from Mercedes after 12 seasons with the Silver Arrows. The 40-year-old is having to learn a lot in a short amount of time, with his switch to Italy marking the first time the seven-time F1 champion has raced a Ferrari engine.
Lewis Hamilton laps Fiorano 0.8s slower than Charles Leclerc in Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car
Hamilton will hope swapping Mercedes for Ferrari now leads to the Briton’s eighth title after recording his worst-ever finish in the F1 drivers’ championship last season with seventh. The Stevenage-born racer’s new teammate Leclerc took third, 81 points behind Max Verstappen.
Leclerc will be a big challenge for Hamilton, as well, and the early signs are that the 27-year-old has the edge in Ferrari’s new car. According to Marca, Hamilton’s best lap time set in the SF-25 at Fiorano was 0.8 seconds slower than what Leclerc penned despite him going first.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Ferrari’s iconic private Fiorano test track
Ferrari gave the Monegasque the chance to run first and Leclerc’s quickest lap in the SF-25 at Fiorano was 56.06 seconds – only 0.061s slower than the all-time track record set in 2004 by Michael Schumacher. The German lapped Fiorano in his dominant F2004 in just 55.999s.
Charles Leclerc will be thrilled to be faster than Lewis Hamilton in the SF-25
Leclerc will, no doubt, be thrilled to boast an advantage over Hamilton after their first laps in the SF-25 at Fiorano. The eight-time Grand Prix winner has not put the 105-time race winner in his shadow so far. Although, as always, Ferrari will know their times are unrepresentative.
Their first time on a track this year back in late January saw Leclerc lap Fiorano six seconds slower than Hamilton in Ferrari’s 2023 car due to running in the worst of the wet conditions. Yet the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) run was largely so the drivers shook off any cobwebs.
A trip to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya earlier in February was also an unrepresentative outing as Ferrari modified their 2024 car to reflect the 2026 F1 regulations for the Pirelli tyre test. Hamilton was 0.13 seconds faster than Leclerc at Barcelona after 87 and 86 laps each.
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