Lewis Hamilton’s preparation for the 2025 Formula 1 campaign with Ferrari will no longer feature running in the SF-23 after the Briton has maxed out his TPC allocation.
TPC, or Testing of Previous Car regulations permit drivers to conduct on-track running in F1 cars that are at least two years old.
The TPC regulations state that permanent race drivers can commit to a maximum of 1000km driving across four days.
Hamilton made his Ferrari on-track debut at the Fiorano test circuit on January 22 in the Scuderia’s SF-23 machine that campaigned the 2023 season.
A week later, Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc shared driving duties across two days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, again in the SF-23.
That programme was disrupted by a Hamilton crash on the second day of running last Wednesday.
Hamilton and Leclerc remained in Barcelona this week to conduct a 2026 Pirelli tyre test in a modified SF-24, but the Scuderia also rolled out the SF-23 for Hamilton to conduct a fourth day of TPC running, thus bringing his testing operations to a close until the official Pre-Season test in Bahrain on February 26-28, whereby the Briton will be driving Ferrari’s latest F1 machine.
In the interim, Hamilton will be conducting ‘filming day’ driving during Ferrari’s 2025 car launch on February 19.
In truth, TPC running is predominantly used for reserve and academy drivers, who can complete up to 20 days running, which will allow Antonio Giovinazzi, new hire Zhou Guanyu and Formula 2 starlet Dino Beganvoic ample opportunity to drive an F1 car throughout the course of the year.
Why is TPC running limited?
Previously, TPC regulations didn’t impose a limit on teams running its drivers in two-year-old spec F1 machines, but that all changed when Ferrari professed against a test condcuted by Red Bull and Max Verstappen last year.
Red Bull conducted a TPC test at Imola in Verstappen’s 2022 title-winning RB18 ahead of last year’s Spanish GP, aiming to conduct direct comparisons to the 2024 RB20 challenger.
Ferrari Team Principal questioned the sporting fairness of conducting a TPC outing to guide present development.
“It’s more development than something else,” he claimed.
“It’s not to give mileage to Max between Barcelona and Austria, that Tuesday you do nothing, go to Imola. It’s clearly development.”
Vasseur offered up a potential alteration to the TPC rules, saying “I think if we have to police it, we will have to split the two aspects, the day that we are doing with our drivers, and the day that we are doing with the non-racing drivers.
“Honestly like this I would say something stupid, but I would say that we did two or four with our drivers this year, over the season.”
Vasseur’s suggestion wasn’t stupid, however, given that 2025 has seen the TPC rules defined almost exactly as he prescribed.
The response to his concerns was met with the new rules limiting current drivers to four days TPC running and 1000km maximum, with non-race drivers granted 20 days of running.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton completes Ferrari test with Pirelli in Barcelona
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