Lewis Hamilton revealed Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur wanted him to take part in post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, but even though it would have been an unlikely prospect anyway, the prospect of a first drive in red at Yas Marina “does not excite me.”
Hamilton will make the move to Ferrari in 2025 after a 12-season stint at Mercedes, with he and the team having mutually agreed that he will not head to the Scuderia beforehand, due to pre-planned farewell events in his honour at the end of the season alongside his contract running until the end of 2024.
Lewis Hamilton on early Ferrari start: ‘I know Fred wanted it to happen’
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
The seven-time World Champion will head to the Scuderia in place of Carlos Sainz, who in turn will be released from his Ferrari duties once the season ends to take part in post-season testing for his new team, Williams.
With the arrangements already in place to mark the end of Hamilton’s time at Mercedes, the Briton and the team both agreed an early switch would not take place – and the prospect was not understood to have been under serious consideration regardless.
Hamilton’s arrival at Maranello is set to bring much fanfare with it, and he admitted the “perfect world” scenario would be to take in his first laps for Ferrari behind closed doors.
He admitted that not taking part in post-season testing will make the start of 2025 “harder” for him, but he will look to make up the time regardless.
“Look, I know Fred wanted it to happen. For me, I was into two minds,” Hamilton explained to media including PlanetF1.com.
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“Driving the red car for the first time in Abu Dhabi does not excite me.
“In a perfect world, you would get to drive it and not be seen, and do the first roll out next year.
“When I did raise it, obviously, with Toto, they had all these plans that I’ve got to go and see some of the sponsors, and say the farewells.
“So I don’t think it was ever going to actually be allowed, even if I had asked to have done it, but because I’m contracted to the team until December 31st, and that’s totally fine.
“But it doesn’t bother me, again, because I wasn’t going to do the test. It’s not what I wanted to do – I told Fred, that’s not what I was going to do.
“Am I missing out something? For sure, [it] definitely delays the process and makes the start of the year harder, but we’ll do our best to recover it.”
It has not yet been confirmed when and where Hamilton will take part in his first outing for Ferrari, but in recent seasons, Ferrari have tended to use pre-season to conduct a filming day at their in-house test track, Fiorano, with their new machinery, alongside any testing of a previous car [TPC] running with their drivers.
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