Ferrari has settled Lewis Hamilton’s pre-season testing schedule and assigned him a Formula 1 race engineer, according to reports in Italian media.
Hamilton is now officially a Ferrari driver and the Scuderia is set to give the seven-time world champion as much time to prepare for the 2025 campaign as possible.
Team Principal Frederic Vasseur confirmed plans for TPC [Testing of Previous Car] sessions at Fiorano in January last month, but according to the Italian arm of Motorsport.com, more testing will be added to the Briton’s schedule.
TPC regulations allow seasoned F1 drivers up to 1000km of running in cars across four separate days.
Capitalising on this, it is reported Ferrari has booked four days at the end of this month at the Spanish Grand Prix Barcelona circuit for Hamilton to continue his acclimatisation.
The four days will include two days of on-track running, building on his sessions at Fiorano, while the remainder of the Barcelona test will be used to integrate Hamilton with his new Ferrari engineers.
After 12 seasons with Mercedes, it appears Ferrari is doing all it can to settle Hamilton into his new surroundings as seamlessly as possible ahead of F1’s official pre-season test event in Bahrain on February 26-28.
That’s just as well, considering Hamilton’s new team-mate, Charles Leclerc, is coming off the back of a supremely strong 2024 campaign.
Hamilton inherits Carlos Sainz’s race engineer
The identity of Hamilton’s Ferrari Race Engineer will be of little surprise to many.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Riccardo Adami will be the man in Hamilton’s ear during GP weekends.
Adami is well-versed in Ferrari circles, having previously worked with Carlos Sainz for the last four seasons and Hamilton’s respected rival Sebastian Vettel.
Building a rapport with Adami will be vital for Hamilton’s integration at Ferrari, which will see him join several familiar faces.
Vasseur served as Hamilton’s team boss during his Euro Formula 3 and GP2 title campaigns.
Moreover, the Scuderia snapped up two key members of the Mercedes outfit last year.
In October 2024, Jerome D’Ambrosio and Loic Serra joined Ferrari from Hamilton’s former employers.
D’Ambrosio is Ferrari’s Deputy Team Principal with Serrar serving as Technical Director.
These key pieces will help Hamilton settle in Maranello ahead of one of the most eagerly awaited driver/team partnerships in F1 history.
Hamilton will be officially unveiled as a Ferrari driver in the F1 75 launch event at London’s O2 Arena on February 18 with the Scuderia hosting its own launch event a day later.
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