Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s 2025 Ferrari given launch date

Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari Formula 1 car will break cover on February 19, a day after the sport’s inaugural season launch at London’s The O2 to mark its 75th anniversary.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur revealed the date during the Italian team’s annual Christmas media event, this year held at their Fiorano test track.

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Vasseur also confirmed the team will run the 2025 car on February 19 but did not give any more details as to who will drive, nor any information about what the launch will look like.

Following their event at Maranello, Ferrari will head straight to Bahrain for three days of testing, which begins on February 26 at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Hamilton and new team mate Charles Leclerc will get one and a half days of running between them at the desert venue before the season opener in Melbourne, Australia.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton will join Ferrari at the start of the next year – though the team are being guarded about his exact start date and induction plan.

Vasseur did however confirm he’ll have some running in Ferrari machinery before Bahrain to help him get comfortable with his new surroundings.

“We will have a couple of test days with TPC [testing of previous cars] and Pirelli [tyre test running] before Bahrain,” Vasseur told F1.com.

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“It’s a very short period. At the end of the day, you have launch of the car on Feb 19 – and then we are going directly to Bahrain for the first test and to Melbourne.

“It means this will be a rush, but I’m not worried at all. He [Hamilton] is coming with experience of this. He did almost 20 seasons in F1 – and he will manage perfectly this period.”

Vasseur added, when speaking to the media at Fiorano: “We know that we will have a lot of procedures to assimilate during these couple of days, but I think he is experienced enough to do it. We’ll have the advantage to have the simulator.

“Obviously he will be able to do a race simulation, quali simulation into the simulator, and to be fully prepared with the steering wheel and the particularities of the race. But honestly, I’m not worried about this. It’s not the biggest challenge.”

Ferrari, meanwhile, signed off current driver Carlos Sainz’s time with the squad with an F1 track day at their Fiorano test circuit for Sainz and his two-time World Rally Championship-winning father, Carlos Sainz Senior.