Hamilton announced almost a year ago that he was to join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from F1 2025, ending his long and successful association with Mercedes.
Following a short winter break, during which he celebrated his 40th birthday, Hamilton arrived at Ferrari’s Maranello factory on Monday morning to link up with his new team.
And in a post on Instagram, a suited-and-booted Hamilton shared an image of himself posing outside the office once used by team founder Enzo Ferrari at Maranello.
He wrote: “There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Ferrari driver, is one of those days.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red.
“I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream today.
“Today we start a new era in the history of this iconic team, and I can’t wait to see what story we will write together.”
Hamilton’s first day at Ferrari is expected to include simulator work and engineering meetings, which will see him link up with new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
PlanetF1.com revealed last year that former race engineer Peter Bonnington would not be following him from Mercedes to Ferrari, having been promoted to a new role at the Brackley-based team.
Hamilton is instead poised to work alongside Adami, who previously served as race engineer to his predecessors Carlos Sainz and four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton is expected to take to the track for the first time as a Ferrari driver later this week, with a run behind the wheel of the F1-75 car of 2022 planned at the team’s Fiorano test track.
Ferrari have traditionally held a so-called wake-up test at Fiorano in January, targeted at getting team and drivers back up to speed ahead of official winter running.
Hamilton’s pre-season schedule is then expected to take him to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the home of F1’s Spanish Grand Prix, for a second private test next week.
Ferrari’s F1 2025 car, codenamed Project 677, will be launched on February 19, one day after F1’s first-ever collective season-launch event involving all 10 teams in London.
A three-day pre-season test will then be held in Bahrain on February 26-28 before the F1 2025 season commences with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.
