Ferrari fans are beginning to get very excited about the arrival of their latest Formula 1 star.
Lewis Hamilton is expected to arrive at Ferrari’s factory in Maranello imminently to begin working towards the 2025 season.
Ferrari have even started teasing his first official appearance with the team on social media in various posts over the last couple of weeks.
Hamilton won’t drive Ferrari’s new 2025 car until pre-season testing begins in Bahrain at the end of February.
However, that doesn’t mean he needs to wait until then to get his hands on one of their cars.
The seven-time world champion will jump into one of their older cars – probably the 2023 SF-23 – in at least one private test.
Ferrari are worried about one problem ahead of Hamilton’s debut and have deliberately kept as many details about his first run at Fiorano as secret as possible.
Hamilton could take part in three tests for Ferrari before getting to Bahrain as team principal Frederic Vasseur gives his new star every opportunity to adapt to his new team.
A report from the Daily Mail revealed more details about what Hamilton would do on his first official visit to Maranello.
While he won’t be jumping in any cars just yet, the first impressions he makes at Ferrari’s factory will benefit him throughout the upcoming campaign.
Lewis Hamilton’s first duties as a Ferrari driver revealed at Maranello
The report suggests that Hamilton will start life as a Ferrari driver on Monday after enjoying a winter break with plenty of winter sports.
It’s a pastime he shares with new teammate Charles Leclerc who was also spotted on the slopes getting his fitness levels up to the required level.
Hamilton announced his Ferrari deal last February and it led to a long goodbye from Mercedes throughout the 2024 campaign.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory
The report from the Daily Mail suggests that Hamilton’s first duties at Ferrari on Monday will be to say hello to the staff he’ll be working alongside in 2025 and beyond before completing some time in the team’s simulator.
The Brit is expected to take to the team’s private test track on Wednesday, however, Ferrari could delay Hamilton’s first test if the weather is too bad.
Ferrari fans are expected to descend on Fiorano this week to try and catch a glimpse of the seven-time world champion’s first outing which is why the team are trying to be so secretive about when he might drive out onto the track for the first time.
However, it’s less than a month until Hamilton will be wearing his Ferrari uniform at the F1 75 launch and only a week later he’ll be running in pre-season testing in Sakhir.
What Lewis Hamilton once said about Ferrari’s fans before signing for the team
One of the biggest factors that will be different between racing for Mercedes and Ferrari is the Tifosi.
Hamilton set the fastest lap in F1 history at Monza but didn’t do it in front of Ferrari’s home fans due to the pandemic.
However, he’ll be well aware of how passionate they are from his years of racing in Italy and therefore the expectations that will be placed on him.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
Speaking in 2019, Hamilton said to the F1 website: “I’m very, very lucky that I do have a good Italian following.
“Ferrari, with the fans, now with this win happening and with not having a championship since 2007, there is this yearning to succeed. So I’m sure they are just relating it to the fact I have won the championship the last few years.
“But more and more as time goes on, I’m having Ferrari fans message me in my comments and say ‘I’m a Ferrari fan but I respect you a lot’. Things shift.
“But they have got two great drivers there now, so I’m sure they are happy with their new young star and I am super happy to see how he progresses.”
Ferrari fans have finally got their wish six years later to see the sport’s most successful driver in one of their cars.
