Ferrari fans get first glimpse of Lewis Hamilton driving for new team

Lewis Hamilton greeted a assemblage of waiting fans connected Wednesday arsenic helium drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the archetypal clip since joining the Italian squad for the 2025 season.

Hamilton was down the instrumentality of a 2023-specification Ferrari SF-23 bearing his racing number, 44, astatine the team’s Fiorano trial track, and wore a caller helmet plan successful yellowish with a salient Prancing Horse logo.

The 40-year-old British operator acceptable retired for his archetypal thigh astatine 9:16 a.m. section clip successful airy fog and doubly waved to a assemblage of astir 1,000 spectators, who had gathered connected a adjacent span contempt the acold and bedewed weather.

Part-way done the day, Hamilton headed implicit to fans who had waited for hours successful the bedewed conditions since aboriginal greeting for a glimpse of him down the wheel.

Wearing a overgarment successful Ferrari red, helium waved, gave a thumbs-up motion and enactment a manus to his heart.

There was excitement Wednesday from 1 of Italy’s biggest sports stars, too.

After reaching the semifinals astatine the Australian Open, top-ranked tennis subordinate Jannik Sinner was asked by an Italian newsman if helium had seen thing connected societal media astir Hamilton’s Ferrari debut.

‘It’s inactive beauteous unusual to spot him successful red,’ Sinner said, ‘but it’ll beryllium a large season.’

Hamilton has shaken up F1 with his determination to Ferrari aft 12 years with Mercedes, wherever helium won six of his 7 satellite titles. He has said he’s fulfilling a puerility dream.

‘I’ve been fortunate capable to person achieved things successful my vocation I ne'er thought possible, but portion of maine has ever held connected to that imagination of racing successful red. I couldn’t beryllium happier to recognize that imagination today,’ helium said Monday aft arriving astatine Ferrari’s Maranello office for his archetypal time astatine enactment with the caller team.

F1 tightly restricts teams from investigating current-specification cars but the rules are much escaped for older cars similar the SF-23 that Hamilton drove Wednesday.

The F1 regulations for 2025 let Hamilton to thrust up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) implicit 4 days successful older F1 cars nether the “testing of erstwhile cars” rule. The SF-23 is the astir caller Ferrari that’s eligible.

Pre-season investigating for the caller season’s cars is from Feb. 26 done 28 successful Bahrain.