Lewis Hamilton looks into the distance while balancing his yellow Ferrari helmet on one hand
Lewis Hamilton has brought back his original yellow helmet design for his first season at Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton called for more changes to his new Ferrari SF-25 after the car’s shakedown at Fiorano earlier this week, it has been claimed.
And the fixes are expected to arrive in time for the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain next Wednesday (
Lewis Hamilton requests further changes after Ferrari SF-25 debut
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
After presenting the team’s F1 2025 car in the immediate aftermath of Formula 1’s season-launch event in London on Tuesday, Ferrari were back in Italy the following morning to conduct a filming day with the SF-25 car.
Charles Leclerc spent Wednesday morning in the cockpit at the Fiorano test track, completing around 30 laps before handing over to new team-mate Hamilton for the afternoon session.
The seven-time World Champion’s first taste of the SF-25 marked a return to the venue where Hamilton completed his maiden test as a Ferrari driver with the team’s 2023 car on January 22.
According to unofficial reports from the test, Hamilton’s fastest lap time with the SF-25 was around 0.8 seconds slower than Leclerc, although it is said that the drivers were carrying out different programs at Fiorano.
While Leclerc, entering his seventh full season as a Ferrari driver, was able to push from the off, Hamilton’s focus was on building his confidence and continuing his adaptation to the team’s functions and systems after an 11-year stint with rivals Mercedes.
Both drivers are understood to have provided positive initial feedback on the SF-25, which is rumoured to be 0.4 seconds faster than Ferrari’s 2024 car.
A report by the respected Italian publication Auto Racer has claimed that Hamilton has asked for ‘small details’ to be changed ahead of the start of F1’s official three-day test in Bahrain next week.
The seven-time World Champion’s requests are described as ‘relatively minor’ with no ‘strong differences’ between the settings used by Hamilton and Leclerc.
Hamilton’s latest requests come after he reportedly struggled with the pedals of the Ferrari during his test debut at Fiorano last month.
Unlike Mercedes, who are understood to use Carbon Industrie brakes, Ferrari’s braking materials are provided by competitors Brembo.
After a couple of lockups during his maiden Ferrari outing, Hamilton is believed to have called for adjustments to the pedals of the team’s 2023 car.
A fix was put in place for his second Ferrari test appearance in Barcelona a week later, with engineers reportedly putting in ‘a lot of work’ to meet Hamilton’s request.
However, Hamilton went on to crash out of the test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in a minor setback to his F1 2025 preparations.
With no imagery or footage available of the incident, theories suggested Hamilton’s accident may have been caused by a bump on the track or his inexperience with the Ferrari engine.
Addressing the incident for the first time this week, however, the 40-year-old hinted that he simply made a mistake as he started to explore “the limits” of his new machinery.
He said: “I’ve enjoyed the testing that we’ve had. I’ve had to find the limits of the car as quick as possible, because I only have a handful of days.”
He then laughed: “And I definitely did that!”
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after his first outing with the SF-25 on Wednesday, Hamilton opened up about the challenges of adapting to a new car, admitting that the Ferrari is “completely different” to what he is used to in F1.
Mercedes engines have powered each of Hamilton’s 356 F1 appearances to date stretching back to his debut season in 2007, with his only previous team switch occurring when he swapped McLaren for Mercedes in 2013.
He explained: “It’s completely different. I thought it [would be just] another Formula 1 car.
“I thought it would be [like] when I went from McLaren to Mercedes – there were similarities, but I guess it was still powered by Mercedes, so the sound, the vibration, was all the same or was similar.
“Whilst there were slightly different characteristics of the car, this is a step with the whole thing being completely different.
“It’s a really exciting experience. This is something I’ve really enjoyed trying to wrap my mind around, particularly also just in settings and the terminology they use, the different ways that they can set up a car – that’s taken some getting used to, for sure.
“It’s rare that you just jump in and it just fits.
“For example, the steering wheel is completely different, everything, all these switches are completely different. The software is different, everything.
“Not only am I having to adapt to that, I am adapting to a car that’s made quite differently from what I’ve worked with in the past to achieve a similar sort of thing.
“The feeling is a lot different. I don’t feel that currently I’m having to change my driving style too much. I’m actually feeling quite comfortable in the car and just taking one step at a time.
“I hope, and we’ll see as we get further down the line at the real race circuits that we go into, just how much aligned and how much change I might need to do.
“But the key is to be open-minded and be dynamic.
“Luckily, with my experience, I should be able to do that.”
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