A date that has been etched into F1 history is Monday, January 20, 2025, as it marked Lewis Hamilton's first day as a Ferrari driver.
Hamilton toured the Ferrari factory and met with team members during the day before his involvement picked up on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday as Ferrari prepares the seven-time champion for his new career chapter.
Hamilton will partake in an on-track test with the team at the Fiorano circuit but will also be involved in intense work at the factory.
The activities carried out are all aimed at understanding the procedures and establishing the partnership between Hamilton and the team ahead of their first season together.
Hamilton has taken time to get to know the various workers in the different departments which sits as a significant procedure ahead of his on-track debut in red.
In preparation for the highly anticipated first outing, Hamilton completed a seat fitting at the factory – both in the cockpit of the older Ferrari he will drive at Fiorano and also in the initial chassis of the 2025 car that is still in production.
A crucial part of the plans in place is multiple simulator tests, in which RacingNews365 understands Hamilton used the virtual mathematical model of the car he will test on Wednesday.
However, the configuration mostly in use was that of the SF-24 in its latest specification that was raced at the end of the 2024 campaign by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The simulator test included various adjustments that were deliberately distant from each other.
This was done to effectively erase Hamilton’s sensorial memory linked to his experience with the Mercedes simulator. F1 simulators are incredibly advanced pieces of technology, and the Maranello instrument is of a more recent generation than that of Mercedes’ at Brackley.
Early look towards F1 2025 season
There is also talk of a further simulation using the mathematical model of the 2025 car already loaded into the simulator's memory to have a direct comparison between the two single-seaters, even before the real 2025 car is presented on February 19.
Various briefings with the engineers followed and preceded each session on the simulator, not only to get feedback on the changes in settings and configurations but also to give the engineers a more precise, albeit initial, understanding of Hamilton's set-up preferences.
On Wednesday, the track test will be made up of various runs in which checks will be carried out on the operational settings that can be altered from the steering wheel.
Most of the instructions between the team and driver will be carried out over team radio to allow for rapid understanding of the procedures.
When Hamilton returns to the pit lane, there will be further verifications regarding the command sequences and the 40-year-old will be able to further relay his feedback.
Additionally, Hamilton will carry out various starting procedures to calibrate himself with the clutch and its mechanisms.
Last but certainly not least, it is possible there will be pit stop simulations to further harmonise the partnership that will make for extremely intriguing viewing this year.
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