{"id":30206,"date":"2025-02-11T05:36:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T10:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30206"},"modified":"2025-02-11T05:36:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T10:36:34","slug":"lewis-hamilton-positive-feedback-from-first-ferrari-runs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/11\/lewis-hamilton-positive-feedback-from-first-ferrari-runs\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton: Positive feedback from first Ferrari runs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/22\/why-lewis-hamiltons-2025-ferrari-will-shock-the-grid\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and Ferrari have begun their preparations for 2025, with the 7-time Champion tasked with acclimatising to a new team. Having narrowly missed out on last year&#8217;s constructors title, Ferrari are among the favourites to fight for the crown this season.<\/p>\n<p>This is one of many reasons that Hamilton&#8217;s integration at Maranello is so important.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside the immensely talented Charles Leclerc, the British driver is getting into his rhythm ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n<h2>Hamilton and Ferrari satisfied with initial test runs<\/h2>\n<p>At this stage of the year, drivers are still shaking off the winter rust ahead of pre-season testing.<\/p>\n<p>Only when the teams arrive in Bahrain will the grid experience their first laps in the 2025 cars.<\/p>\n<p>However, this does not mean the winter months are uneventful for drivers. Across the field, a series of Pirelli tyre tests and TPC (Testing of Previous car) runs are taking place.<\/p>\n<p>For someone like Lewis Hamilton, one of many drivers arriving at a new team, the last few weeks have been especially important.<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton has already completed significant mileage in the SF-23 and SF-24, the last two F1 cars produced by Ferrari.<\/p>\n<p>The 40-year-old is working hard to acclimatise at the factory at Maranello, spending time with engineers and getting up to speed with the team&#8217;s procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Simulator work with the SF-25, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/01\/f1-news-how-ferrari-have-prioritised-their-2025-car\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Ferrari&#8217;s 2025 challenger<\/a>, is also of increasing importance.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"FG6HZvT2QElf3lFa8GhskA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2195840822\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'FG6HZvT2QElf3lFa8GhskA',sig:'SCl5duBbcwocBkjoXDK7rYNdHD2tQYiO6y1wmVV9-XA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2195840822',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Italian team have bold ambitions for this season, with an aggressive series of aerodynamic changes planned for this season.<\/p>\n<p>Having established a baseline they feel confident in, the Maranello team are pushing the boundaries. 99% of the components on this year&#8217;s challenger will be brand new.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the obvious intention of delivering more performance, this means Leclerc &#8211; not just Hamilton &#8211; must adapt to a relatively new machine.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of adaptation, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari are understood to be satisfied with their track time so far.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is the 7-time Champion becoming familiar with the team&#8217;s procedures, but he felt comfortable in last year&#8217;s SF-24 &#8211; an encouraging sign as he prepares to drive its successor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/01\/why-the-start-of-2025-is-critical-for-hamilton-and-leclerc\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">With teammate Leclerc<\/a>, Hamilton completed well over a race distance in the Pirelli tyre test at Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>It was at this test where Hamilton first used the custom pedal modifications that he requested.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gazzetta.it\/motori\/ferrari\/31-01-2025\/lewis-hamilton-subito-veloce-con-la-ferrari-f1.shtml?refresh_ce\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gazzetta<\/a>, he was happy with this adjustment &#8211; allowing him to feel more comfortable in the Ferrari.<\/p>\n<h4>The Development race<\/h4>\n<p>Of course, Ferrari team principal <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/16\/fred-vasseur-not-worried-about-leclerc-and-hamilton-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Fred Vasseur did not sign Lewis Hamilton on the assumption he would struggle<\/a> to perform.<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman, who has overseen significant progress at Maranello since arriving in 2023, is confident his latest signing will hit the ground running.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest unknown for Ferrari, as with every other team, is how competitive their car will be. On paper, there is every reason the Scuderia should fight at the front.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"O_i0WQAXRaNmMlJwEM5ITg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2194650189\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'O_i0WQAXRaNmMlJwEM5ITg',sig:'WE46i-wyPjye2N1TgQBYmq6i6jkQ3w9EvwF8KF7tkK8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2194650189',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Even a relatively lousy winter of development should still be enough to fight for podiums and occasional wins.<\/p>\n<p>However, as touched upon previously, the only aim for Vasseur&#8217;s team in 2025 is to win the Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Not only in terms of pure performance, but also from an operational and strategic standpoint, Ferrari took a clear step forward last year.<\/p>\n<p>Although McLaren were faster for the majority of the season, the Italian outfit almost eclipsed them in the team&#8217;s Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of this, Ferrari&#8217;s decision to introduce a relatively radical concept change has surprised some people.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, the final season of a regulatory cycle does not involved such large-scale alterations.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, other front-runners have opted for a similar approach. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/02\/mclaren-join-ferrari-in-all-out-2025-development-approach\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Most notably McLaren<\/a>, who were faster than anyone last year, are also pursuing a radical change in philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>This creates another unknown for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari in 2025 &#8211; with several teams in contention to set the standard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have begun their preparations for 2025, with the 7-time Champion tasked with acclimatising to a new team. Having narrowly missed out on last year&#8217;s constructors title, Ferrari are among the favourites to fight for the crown this season. This is one of many reasons that Hamilton&#8217;s integration at Maranello is so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":30208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,465,84,721,2481],"class_list":["post-30206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-f1-news","tag-ferrari","tag-hamilton","tag-sf-25"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30215,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30206\/revisions\/30215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}