By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari’s 2025 Formula One car its track debut on Wednesday, with the Monegasque going first before handing over to his new seven-times world champion teammate.
The SF-25, an evolution of last year’s car, ran at the Fiorano test track — with crowds of fans seeking a glimpse — after a livery launch in London on Tuesday along with the other nine teams.
“We drove the car today and I can see the craziness around the track and that’s amazing to see,” Leclerc told reporters.
Ferrari will be chasing their first title since 2008, when they were constructors’ champions, in what could be an even closer season than last year when they were runners-up to McLaren.
Pre-season testing starts in Bahrain next week with the opening race in Australia on March 16.
“Today is a huge day for me,” said Hamilton, 40, in a video released to coincide with the launch.
“I knew that I needed something new, I knew I needed this new challenge, I think when I got here I realised just how much I needed it and how great it felt.
“And we’re literally walking around with a smile, such a big smile on my face every day I come to work, it’s very revitalising.”
Hamilton started out at Maranello last month by shaking hands with every employee, maintaining his signature iron-hard grip through the day and with some 1,500 people across all departments.
He has moved his mobile home next to the house of late team founder Enzo at Fiorano and has been starting the day with a run around the track before activities around the factory and in the simulator.
“We’ve been here until 10pm at night and it’s like no one wants to go home,” he said.
“Everyone’s just so dedicated and we have such a steep learning curve to come across together so I anticipated obviously that was going to be tough, and it very much is, but we’re working towards something really exciting.”
The Briton is also reunited with long-term trainer and physio Angela Cullen, has kept the Ferrari chef busy with vegan requirements and is learning Italian — expressing himself tentatively.
Team boss Fred Vasseur said the drivers were getting on well.
“At this part of the season, all the teams are world champions, all the teammates are in their honeymoon, and so on and so on,” he said.
“We are starting in very good shape now. The most important thing is to keep this relationship, to continue to work as a team and to push as a team. But I’m quite confident.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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