Ferrari wants to give Lewis Hamilton as much time as possible behind the wheel so he can hit the ground running at the start of the new F1 season.
Ferrari is limited in how much they can prepare Lewis Hamilton for life in his car due to new rules introduced in response to Max Verstappen.
Their new recruit should need no introduction, given his status as a seven-time F1 champion and holder of dozens of records. But Hamilton still has to get used to his new surroundings and figure out how best to work with the people at Ferrari, with cultural differences and language barriers also having to be overcome.
Previously, under the previous rules of the car test (TPC), Formula 1 teams were not limited in the number of races they could do in two-year-old cars. But in 2025, this will no longer be the case.
From now on, the sporting regulations will stipulate: “Each competitor, together with a driver registered in the championship or who will be registered in the championship, may drive a maximum of 1,000 kilometers of TPCs per calendar year, this distance accumulating for a maximum of four days. »
The revised regulations have a direct impact on Hamilton’s preparation for life as a Ferrari driver: the Italian wanted to give the new recruit as much time as possible to get used to the car, but in 2025 the period during which he can drive is limited to four days. And as we know, they plan to use them all in January.
Ferrari will give Hamilton the chance to test the car for the first time with a track day at the Fiorano Circuit in the week starting January 20, before heading to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the remaining three-day race at the end of the season. March.
So it is a rule change which is not ideally timed for Ferrari or Hamilton, in terms of their desire to hit the ground running this season. However, it was a tweak made after a call from Scuderia boss Frederic Vasseur last year.
The Frenchman raised his concerns after Red Bull used a TPC session at Imola ahead of last June’s Spanish Grand Prix to let Verstappen test its 2022 car. By that time, Red Bull was experiencing some issues with its car after a series of upgrades and had legitimately used the TPC session as an opportunity to test and resolve the issues.
However, Wasser estimates that it is not in the mind of the rules and says, “There is a TPC that can be made with lace pilots. This is mainly car development. Especially if you plan one week before the grand prix, car development. is. I wasn’t blessed with what they were doing, but I don’t want to give Max experience on Tuesday. \ “
And he asked for a change made when he added the following:
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