Formula 1’s biggest-ever driver move has happened ahead of the new 2025 season with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton gearing up for his first year at Ferrari.
Keep up to speed with the latest key dates and events here during pre-season as the early stages of one of the sport’s most anticipated link-ups plays out…
When will Hamilton drive a Ferrari for the first time?
Ferrari are yet to officially confirm Hamilton’s exact early movements at their Maranello base when he arrives for the first time later in January, but team boss Frederic Vasseur told the media just before Christmas that their star signing’s debut on the track for them was set to be in one of the team’s old cars.
That’s because F1’s sporting regulations allow for the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC), under certain restrictions, with teams this year able to run their cars from 2023, 2022 or 2021 outside of race weekends and official 2025 testing.
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In an exclusive interview, Fred Vasseur shares Ferrari’s team goals for the new season, his hopes for new arrival Lewis Hamilton and the team’s challenge to beat Max Verstappen.
Given pre-season testing for the new 2025 challengers does not take place until late February in Bahrain, a run in an older car before then will allow Hamilton a first chance to get used to some of the unique characteristics of one of the Scuderia’s cars, systems and working practices at the track.
What we do know so far is that Hamilton’s bow will come at the Scuderia’s own Fiorano test track, which is adjacent to their factory in Maranello, with the exact date in the second half of January to be determined closer to the time by the weather forecast.
When will Hamilton first appear publicly as a Ferrari driver?
Vasseur confirmed that no bespoke ‘unveiling’ event will be held ahead of the season to mark the seven-time world champion’s arrival at the Scuderia, but Hamilton definitely will join new team-mate Charles Leclerc and the rest of the much-changed 2025 F1 grid at the sport’s special season launch event at London’s O2 on February 18.
Hamilton will then take part in his first Ferrari car launch a day later in Maranello on February 19.
When will Hamilton drive Ferrari’s 2025 car for the first time?
While Hamilton and Leclerc will likely drive their new 2025 car at Fiorano in a shakedown under one of the team’s permitted ‘filming days’ after its launch on February 19, the pair’s full debuts in the team’s latest challenger will come at Bahrain Testing from February 26-28.
Hamilton and Leclerc will share driving duties across the three days in the Middle East, meaning they will be on track for a day and a half each.
When and where will he make his Ferrari race debut?
Melbourne’s Albert Park will be the venue for Hamilton’s first race weekend as a Ferrari driver on March 14-16 as the Australian Grand Prix reverts to hosting the season-opener for 2025.
All 24 race weekends in the new season are live on Sky Sports F1.
How long is his Ferrari contract?
Ferrari announced that they had signed Hamilton to a “multi-year” contract when the move was announced last February. While not specifying publicly the exact length of the term, multi-year would certainly cover both the 2025 and 2026 seasons and could even contain options for the Briton to continue beyond that.
Hamilton, who turned 40 on January 7, said in April 2024 that “I’m going to be racing well into my 40s” having previously played down the chances of continuing his career for so long.
The 2025 campaign marks Hamilton’s 19th consecutive season on the F1 grid.
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Lewis Hamilton discusses his reasoning for moving to Ferrari and his relationship with team principal Frederic Vasseur.
Why has Hamilton chosen to join Ferrari?
It was a shock of truly seismic proportions when it emerged on February 1, 2024 that Hamilton would be leaving Mercedes at the end of that year to join rivals Ferrari.
Activating a break clause in what had previously been thought to be a fixed two-year Mercedes deal, which had been agreed just five months earlier, Hamilton said that although it had been the “hardest decision I think I’ve ever had to make” in opting to leave he had concluded that “ultimately I’m writing my story and I felt like it was time to start a new chapter”.
How did Hamilton fare in the 2024 season?
In what was always going to be an unusual 2024 season for Hamilton and Mercedes given his end-of-year exit had been announced before the campaign had even started, the Briton finished outside the top six in the Drivers’ Championship (seventh) for the first time in his career and was outperformed by team-mate George Russell.
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With seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton having left Mercedes in 2024, check out his top seven drives with the team.
Struggling to marry his style with Mercedes’ 2024 car, which suited some tracks and conditions but floundered in others, Hamilton’s troubles mostly manifested themselves in qualifying where the record 104-time polesitter was trounced in the head-to-head by Russell and suffered some shock early exits, leaving him further down the grid and often compromising his weekends.
Still, though, there were some notable highs – particularly on race days – none higher than a brilliant win in changeable conditions at his home British GP, a record-breaking ninth win at a single Grand Prix and record-extending 104th overall to end a career-worst run of 56 races without a victory.
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Experience Lewis Hamilton’s final moments with Mercedes through his eyes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
He inherited a 105th when team-mate Russell was disqualified at the Belgian GP, while the closing weeks of his Mercedes career lurched between unusually dismal showings – including spinning out early in Austin and finishing 12th in a mistake-laden race in Qatar – and stirring comeback drives from poor qualifying displays in Las Vegas and, on his Mercedes farewell, in Abu Dhabi.
Who has replaced Hamilton at Mercedes?
Stepping into the shoes of the most-successful F1 driver of all time is one of the sport’s youngest ever debutants, 18-year-old Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
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Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok talks through Kimi Antonelli’s journey to the Mercedes 2025 seat.
A Mercedes protege who the team have had on their books since 2019, Antonelli won two races in his sole year of F2 in 2024 and has been fast-tracked through the motorsport ladder to one of the grid’s highest-profile seats in a clear show of faith in his potential from team boss Toto Wolff.
Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian GP on March 14-16. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
