After being supported by McLaren and Mercedes throughout his junior career and ever since his F1 debut in 2007, Lewis Hamilton is setting his sights on Maranello in the hope of earning an eighth world championship.
When Hamilton made his debut 18 years ago, there was a huge amount of hype around his debut and he had already topped the timing sheets during a pre-season test for McLaren in 2006, via Motorsport.
His replacement at Mercedes – Andrea Kimi Antonelli – has undergone similar levels of testing ahead of his debut this year.
Antonelli has impressed in Mercedes testing, but Hamilton’s preparations before his first race for Ferrari are likely to be much less straightforward.
The date of Hamilton’s first Ferrari test could change, but when it does take place, he’ll be very limited in what he can do.
That’s partly down to something Max Verstappen did at Red Bull last year.
A report from Motorsport has explained what the four-time world champion did last year that has forced the FIA to make their already strict rules around testing even harsher.
In December 2024, a new set of sporting regulations was published by the FIA that includes a new section on TPC (testing in previous car) tests.
Every driver taking part in a TPC test is subject to mileage constraints, limiting these runs to 1,000 km over a maximum of four days.
Ferrari have lined up dates in January for Hamilton to run their previous F1 cars at Fiorano and Barcelona before the pre-season test takes place in Bahrain where Hamilton will have 1.5 days to adapt to their 2025 car.
This differs for drivers not currently racing in F1 who can take part in 20 TPC testing days with no limits on the distance covered.
The cap has been introduced as some teams raised concerns about a test Verstappen took part in at Imola.
In June 2024, he ran Red Bull’s 2022 car to undertake some ‘technical checks’ which is against the spirit of the TPC test.
A 1,000km cap means teams could theoretically attempt to iron out any issues using older cars with their current drivers, but it would quickly wipe out their allocation for the rest of the year.
Although Hamilton’s running before his Ferrari debut would still have been limited, the rule introduced after Verstappen’s test has made things even trickier.
His runs at Fiorano and Barcelona are likely to be used to get to grips with the processes Ferrari have in place during race runs, rather than adapting to the cars themselves.
The 2025 Ferrari is going to be 99% different to the 2024 car according to team principal Frederic Vasseur, meaning even a long run in the 2023 car is unlikely to help Hamilton all too much.
Damon Hill has questioned Hamilton’s 2025 chances after his first statement as a Ferrari driver, but ultimately, it’s how he performs over the first few races that will give the best indication of whether Ferrari’s car suits him better than the previous three Mercedes.
While interest in Hamilton’s first test is growing, very little can be read into how he performs during those limited runs.
The 1.5 days he will get alongside Charles Leclerc in Bahrain are much more vital than anything he will do over the next few weeks.
