Lewis Hamilton will not drive a Ferrari in the post-season Abu Dhabi test.
Hamilton will join the Italian team next year, starting a new chapter of his Formula 1 career at the age of 40. And there are precedents for drivers getting the chance to get to grips with their new machinery once their final campaign with their current team is over.
Fernando Alonso is a recent example. After announcing mid-way through the 2022 season that he had agreed to leave Alpine for Aston Martin, he was granted permission to drive a green F1 car for the first time at the Abu Dhabi test after that year’s final race.
Hamilton, however, will not get the same opportunity. Per BBC Sport, there is “zero” chance that the seven-time F1 champion will be allowed to get behind the wheel of a Ferrari as he will still be under contract with Mercedes until the end of December.
Plus, as it is no ordinary case of a driver leaving one team for another, there will be work to do to give Hamilton a proper send-off. This is his 11th season with the team, while he has spent his whole F1 career to date racing Mercedes-powered cars.
But he has chosen to move on and Mercedes will do so too after his contract expires. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has already been confirmed as the seven-time champion’s replacement and the Italian teenager will partner George Russell from 2025 onwards.
Much is expected of Antonelli given his record in junior racing series and the hype that surrounds his early promotion to F1. To help the 18-year-old bed in as well as possible, team boss Toto Wolff says he will follow the same blueprint laid out by former McLaren boss Ron Dennis, when he first promoted Hamilton to the sport back in 2007.
Fernando Alonso tested for Aston Martin in Abu Dhabi after the conclusion of the 2022 F1 season, ahead of his switch from Alpine
The Austrian said: “[Hamilton’s] growth in the junior categories and his impact in Formula 1 came at a time when you could test a lot more than Kimi has been able to do now. Ron at the time said Lewis needed to take it easy to get used to F1, also because [Fernando] Alonso was at McLaren.
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