Lewis Hamilton reportedly had a “good feeling” driving the Ferrari F1 cars, “praising the behaviour of the cars”, even the SF-23.

Hamilton’s immersion programme with his new team has been dominating headlines as the Briton laid down the laps in an SF-23 before driving a modified version of the SF-24 in a Pirelli tyre test.

‘Hamilton immediately found himself better than in the Mercedes’

Such has been the nature of the Briton’s pre-season, he’s already used all of the four days allocated to a current driver over the course of a year to run a Testing of Previous Car [TPC] programme.

Those four days he ran Ferrari’s SF-23, a car that showed potential over a single lap but in long runs it grappled with unpredictable aerodynamic issues that created a tyre-eater car.

It was a key weakness that hampered the team’s performance and baffled the engineers as they tried to resolve it. Upgrades in the latter part of the season gave Ferrari confidence heading into the 2024 season with Fred Vasseur declaring the overall improvement in tyre wear with the SF-24 “on another planet compared to last year”.

But for Hamilton, who in recent years had to contend with Mercedes F1 car that lacked downforce and rear grip, he was reportedly happy with the feel of the Ferrari F1 cars.

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According to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, the seven-time World Champion had ‘good feelings’ and was ‘praising the behaviour of the cars’ – even the SF-23.

‘There are those,’ claims the publication, ‘who say that Hamilton immediately found himself better than in the Mercedes driven in recent seasons.’

It had been reported after the Briton’s Fiorano run that he was already ‘trying things’ in the SF-23, and was not content to ‘just go around’ the track.

Speaking to Sky Italia, Vicky Piria, an Italian racing driver, witnessed the run trackside and reported: “Even though it was really damp, wet and really cold, we saw Lewis try different stuff.

“We saw him work a bit with the E-Diff, we saw him work with the brake balance, saw some locking.

“He wasn’t just going around and doing installation laps, he was actually trying things. Not pushing pushing, but trying things.

“That’s him getting into the momentum, understanding things, the settings on the steering wheel and how they work. They learn everything on the sim but then actually transferring the feelings onto the real track.

“So it’s really forward motion for him because it’s not long before Australia.”

Hamilton and his new team-mate Charles Leclerc will unveil Ferrari’s new livery at the O2 Arena extravaganza before the SF-25 car is officially launched the following day at the team’s test track.

As is tradition, both drivers are likely to get an initial taste of the SF-25 in a brief shakedown before an official F1 pre-season test is held in Bahrain across February 26-28.

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