Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed a solid start to his new life as a Ferrari driver across the seven-time champion’s tests at Fiorano and Barcelona ahead of the 2025 F1 season.
The Scuderia have put Hamilton through an ample Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) and also a Pirelli tyre test programme to prepare the 40-year-old for racing with a Ferrari engine for the first time. He has only raced in Mercedes-powered cars since Hamilton’s debut back in 2007.
Fog plus the lingering threat of rain stopped the Briton from pushing the limits as more than 1,000 fans watched Hamilton’s Ferrari debut at Fiorano. But the private test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya freed him – just to see Hamilton crash at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.
A bump at Turn 12 saw Hamilton crash in Ferrari’s private Barcelona test before returning to do Pirelli’s 2026 tyre test. He also moved from the Scuderia’s 2023 car to a modified version of their 2024 beast as Ferrari used Hamilton’s Pirelli tyre test to mimic F1’s 2026 regulations.
Lewis Hamilton ‘immediately’ felt more comfortable in a Ferrari than his final Mercedes F1 car
The SF-23, which Carlos Sainz won the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix as the only non-Red Bull race winner that season in, was known to be a difficult car to handle. Yet in both the SF-23 and the modified SF-24, Hamilton was ‘immediately’ comfortable driving in a Ferrari F1 car.
That is according to Gazzetta della Sport, which reports that the ‘most interesting’ aspect to emerge out of Hamilton’s tests at Fiorano and Barcelona was how he had a good feeling in a car Sainz and Charles Leclerc struggled in. The Briton also praised the behaviour of the cars.
READ MORE: Seven best drives of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes career ahead of Ferrari move
Despite the negative opinions on the SF-23 and SF-24, Hamilton even felt more comfortable in those cars than his final machines at Mercedes. While the 104-time pole-winner won the British and Belgian Grands Prix last year, 2024 returned his lowest finish to an F1 season yet.
Lewis Hamilton thought Mercedes had something ‘seriously wrong’ with their 2024 F1 car
Eddie Jordan has stated that Hamilton told Mercedes they had something ‘seriously wrong’ with the back of the car last year. The Briton frequently struggled to build any confidence in the rear of his W15 staying planted in every corner, so struggled to push the car to its limits.
The fact that Hamilton immediately felt more comfortable in Ferrari’s challenging SF-23 and SF-24 than Mercedes’ W15 is a positive sign for his first season in red. But it is now thought that the FIA’s flexi front wing clampdown will hurt Ferrari, with porpoising likely a problem.
