Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Umut Yelbaşı
Lewis Hamilton made his much anticipated Ferrari debut at Fiorano, where he completed his first 30 laps in the team’s 2023 car. Following his debut, both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc shared driving duties during three days of private testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Under the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) regulations drivers can only run a maximum of 1,000 kilometres across four days (only 215 laps). Ferrari opted to use the more recent SF23 to help Hamilton adjust to the set-up.
During his second day of running, Hamilton hit the barriers causing the session to come to a halt, hindering the running time of Leclerc’s test. An Italian journalist from AutoCar reported that the Briton hit a bump at Turn 12, causing ‘severe damage’ to the SF23.
Ferrari refused to comment on the incident. Despite the privacy, Craig Slater from Sky Sports issued an update on Hamilton, stating the seven-time champion was left unhurt and incidents like this are ‘perfectly normal’ at this time of year:
“Lewis Hamilton had a minor crash testing a 2023 Ferrari car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“He was described as absolutely fine afterwards by a senior Ferrari source, but the car itself had to be recovered and taken back to the pits for repairs…
“As it’s been explained to me by a senior Ferrari source, this is perfectly normal at this time of year, particularly for someone like Hamilton coming to the team and looking to test and find the limits of his new equipment…
“He did have a similar type of crash on his very first pre-season outing with Mercedes when he joined them and that association didn’t work out too badly.”
Despite the setback, Hamilton remained positive, issuing his first statement about the test on Instagram, Hamilton said: ‘The first race can’t come soon enough.’
With both Hamilton and Leclerc reaching three out of their available four days of the Testing of Previous Cars sessions, F2 driver Dino Beganovic and Le Mans winner Antonio Giovinazzi took to the wheel for the final day of the private test.
Before the season gets underway on March 16, Hamilton will get further testing time in the Ferrari with the upcoming Pirelli tyre test set to take place on the 4th and 5th of February.
Ferrari will also be joined by McLaren, who will be assisting Pirelli as they prepare the tyres for 2026. Hamilton will be testing the 2024 Ferrari contender, which secured 5 Grands Prix wins.
Following the test, the 2025 Ferrari car will be revealed on February 19th, with new teammates Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc taking part in a shakedown at the Prancing Horses’ track in Fiorano. Pre-season testing will commence the following week in Bahrain with 1.5 days to have a feel of the new cars.
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