Your key Lewis Hamilton questions answered as seven-time F1 World Champion moves to Ferrari

We’re just two months away from seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton’s first race for Ferrari – but what is the Briton going to be up to between now and then?

When will Hamilton first drive a Ferrari?

Hamilton’s first Grand Prix weekend in red may not come until 14-16 March but he’ll be behind the wheel before then.

Ferrari, though, are doing the finest of jobs keeping details of his first test under wraps.

We know that he’ll do some Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) running, most likely in a two-year-old Ferrari. That is set to be at Ferrari’s own test track at Fiorano, just round the corner from their Maranello headquarters, mostly likely at some point in the next two weeks.

The location is weather dependent. If unfavourable conditions creep in, they can switch to Imola or Mugello at relatively short notice.

YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 08: Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, — Lewis Hamilton's 12-year association with Mercedes came to an end after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The seven-time world champion will also likely get the chance to get more laps in Ferrari machinery so he can continue to get used to the team’s working practices via Pirelli tyre testing.

I understand the Italian team are due to test for Pirelli during the first week of February in Jerez, Spain.

Then, like everyone, he’ll get 1.5 days of running in the 2025-spec machine across three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit in the Sakhir desert.

To boost his seat time, Ferrari also have the option to use a demonstration day, where running is capped at 15km for current cars and 50km for cars two years old or more, or a filming day capped at 200km with a current car to give Hamilton more mileage.

And while it’s not as good as running on track, boss Fred Vasseur has already said Hamilton will get plenty of laps in their state-of-the-art simulator – which is the next best thing to real seat time. His first session will be before he gets behind the wheel of a real car.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 08: Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur looks on, on — Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has said Hamilton will get plenty of laps in the team's simulator

What will he be doing at Maranello?

It will probably feel like the first day of a new school for Hamilton when he strolls into Maranello for the first time as a Ferrari driver.

Aside from finding his way round the new office and learning hundreds of new names and faces, he’ll want to start adjusting to how Ferrari work as a race team.

While F1 teams operate in similar ways, they all have subtle differences depending on the culture, the size of the team, the status of the operation (works or independent) – and it is acclimatising to those subtleties that will be key.

Hamilton is a details guy. During his time at Mercedes, even when not at the race track, he would always be sending emails and Whatsapps and making calls to his engineering team looking at ways to be better and faster. He’ll no doubt have many questions – and that means he needs face time with the key people.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 06: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes walks — Hamilton will look to adjust to life at Ferrari as soon as possible

There will also be multiple meetings with boss Vasseur – who he has known for decades having driven for him in junior formulae – and Deputy Team Principal Jerome d’Ambrosio, who he briefly worked with at Mercedes.

The Briton will also spend a chunk of his time with the engineering team, which will be his bubble at race weekends. And of course he’ll spend time in the race bay to get his seat fit and generally get comfortable in his new car.

There’ll also be some promotional and marketing work to be done. Signing Hamilton is a coup for Ferrari and they’ll want to make the most of the association. That means he’ll be needed for social media, digital content shoots and commitments for merchandising and commercial partners.

Who will be Hamilton's race engineer?

Hamilton needs a new race engineer following the end of a 12-year partnership with Pete “Bono” Bonnington that yielded a remarkable 84 Grands Prix wins and six World Championships.

Ferrari have yet to confirm who will engineer Hamilton, but Riccardo Adami is the most likely choice.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 01: Riccardo Adami, Race Engineer at Ferrari talks with Carlos Sainz of — Riccardo Adami was Race Engineer for Carlos Sainz and previously Sebastian Vettel

The Italian engineered Carlos Sainz for the last four years and previously was race engineer for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Before joining Ferrari, Adami worked with Vettel at Toro Rosso (now named Racing Bulls), plus Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi and Daniel Ricciardo.

How long is Hamilton's Ferrari deal?

Hamilton signed a multi-year contract, which means he will be at Ferrari for at least two seasons. There are some suggestions that deal is for three years, which is the length of contract he had pursued at Mercedes before choosing Ferrari.

That means he’ll be racing at the team in 2025 and for at least the first season of the new regulations, which are introduced in 2026 and will see new aerodynamic rules sit alongside sweeping power unit changes that include the use of 100% sustainable fuel and a higher focus on electrical power.

End of season interview with Fred Vasseur

Can he win another title with Ferrari?

That is the million-dollar question. Hamilton will think so, otherwise he wouldn’t have made the leap to Formula 1’s most famous team.

The Briton wants an eighth world title and Ferrari want a first World Championship since 2008.

He joins the Italian squad at a good time, with Ferrari fighting for the Constructors’ Championship until the final race of the season last year before missing out by just 14 points. That was a huge step forward considering they ended up 454 points behind the winners in 2023.

A lot will depend on whether Ferrari can continue that momentum and give Hamilton a car to challenge at the sharp end – and how much of a threat his highly-rated team mate Charles Leclerc, who enjoyed his best season ever last year, poses.

It will also be down to Hamilton to rediscover his qualifying form, which appeared to desert him last year, and continue the strong pace he showed in race trim in 2024.

Who was the last Ferrari driver's champion?

Kimi Raikkonen was Ferrari’s last world champion way back in 2007. The Finn came out of the bushes to snatch the championship at the death in Brazil as then McLaren team mates Hamilton and Fernando Alonso missed out.