When will Lewis Hamilton make Ferrari debut in F1 2025? Testing, race schedule, contract length and more | F1 News

Formula 1’s biggest-ever driver move has happened ahead of the new 2025 season with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton starting 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…

Hamilton begins life at Ferrari

Having officially become a Ferrari driver on New Year’s Day, the Scuderia’s new star signing made his first visit to their famous headquarters on January 20.

Given the scale of the move, the first photos and footage from Hamilton’s maiden day at Maranello were always going to make global headlines and so it proved once the first picture dropped on social media.

Wearing a black suit and overcoat, Hamilton posed for his first photo call outside founder Enzo Ferrari’s old house – which is located in the square now named after Michael Schumacher, the team’s most successful driver – and alongside one of the Italian manufacturer’s F40s, Lewis’ favourite sportscar.

From there, Hamilton met with team and company management before starting what Ferrari described as a “total immersion programme” to get to know his new colleagues, departments and working practices.

“There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Scuderia Ferrari HP driver, is one of those days,” said Hamilton. “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.”

That acclimatisation work continued into the following day, where the first image of him wearing the iconic Ferrari red was revealed on social media.

When will Hamilton drive a Ferrari for the first time?

Hamilton’s maiden run in one of Ferrari’s iconic red cars is expected to take place this week.

While the exact date and time of the maiden run is weather permitting, 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.

Ferrari’s new 2025 car is still in development ahead of its launch and pre-season testing in February but 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.

Ferrari will therefore be taking advantage of this rule to get Hamilton out on track early and a run in an older car will allow Hamilton a first chance to get used to some of the unique characteristics of one of the Scuderia’s cars, engines, systems and working practices at the track.

When will Hamilton first appear as a Ferrari driver at a public event?

Team boss Frederic Vasseur confirmed before Christmas 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.

What else is different for Hamilton in 2025?

In what has been viewed as significant return to his off-track team for his first year at Ferrari, Hamilton’s former performance coach Angela Cullen is back to work with the Briton after two seasons away. Cullen was an almost ever-present at Hamilton’s side at race weekends from 2016 to early 2023, when they parted ways.

Hamilton’s new race engineer is expected to be the Italian Riccardo Adami, who filled the same role for Carlos Sainz and before him Sebastian Vettel. Adami will be looking to build up as successful a rapport with Hamilton as Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington at Mercedes.

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.

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.

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.

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