Lewis Hamilton has embarked on his first on-track outing with his new Ferrari team, turning the wheel of a 2023 Formula 1 car at the squad's Fiorano test track.
Shortly after 9am Italian time, the seven-time world champion was aboard the SF-23 on a foggy Wednesday morning as hordes of Italian tifosi flocked to Maranello to spot a glimpse of their new hero.
Donned in a red overall and a bright yellow helmet, Hamilton set his first laps of a filming day on Pirelli's wet demo tyres to conduct systems checks, and will be later joined by Charles Leclerc as Ferrari captures a full day of content from Hamilton's first driving day.
Throughout the morning, the Briton switched to Pirelli's hard compound as weather conditions briefly cleared up, completing stints of up to 10 laps without notable issues, other than a few harmless lock-ups at the hairpin due to the near glacial conditions.
The rain returned before lunchtime, with Hamilton having clocked around 30 laps in the Ferrari at that stage under the watchful eye of hundreds of enthusiastic Italian fans.
He has been in Maranello all week to meet his new team, visiting Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari's famous mansion on Monday, which produced an instant classic image of Hamilton posing in front of the house in his inimitable sartorial style.
Hamilton spent the day meeting team principal Fred Vasseur and chief executive Benedetto Vigna, as well as Enzo Ferrari's son Piero.
The 40-year-old also got a seat made and worked through driving procedures in the Italian team's simulator.
“There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Ferrari driver, is one of those days,” Hamilton wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream today.
“Today we start a new era in the history of this iconic team, and I can’t wait to see what story we will write together.”
Wednesday morning's outing is Hamilton's first session with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami, with Hamilton's long-time ally Peter Bonnington staying put at Mercedes.
But Hamilton will be re-united with his former physio Angela Cullen, who has joined the Briton's Project 44 company after two years away.
