Ferrari has officially become the first Formula 1 team to announce the launch date of its 2025 car, unveiling plans to present the highly anticipated machine on February 19th, 2025.
The presentation will occur one day after Formula 1’s official season launch at the O2 in London on February 18th, an event where all ten teams and twenty drivers will showcase their liveries to the public for the first time.
Despite this fanfare, Ferrari has chosen to maintain its tradition of hosting car launches at its Maranello headquarters.
The 2025 season represents a critical moment for the Scuderia as it aims to reclaim championship glory.
Following a strong 2024 campaign that saw the team mount a genuine title challenge, the Italina outfit has further bolstered its ambitions with the high-profile signing of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The British driver will join Charles Leclerc in what promises to be a blockbuster driver lineup.
However, Ferrari has confirmed that Hamilton’s debut as a Prancing Horse driver will not be accompanied by a formal presentation or press event.
“We have to be focused on the season,” Scuderia boss Fred Vasseur told the media this week in Maranello, quoted by Motorsport.com.
“It will be a very tight period between the first day and the launch, a matter of weeks. I want everybody to focus on performance.”
Get ready to meet our 2025 challenger#ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/RZEZxRJ4YG
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 18, 2024
Indeed, Ferrari’s decision to streamline its pre-season activities reflects the compressed timeline leading up to the start of testing, scheduled for February 26th in Bahrain.
“We will have the launch of the championship and we will have the launch of the car. It's already two events and it's far too much [to do another],” Vasseur added.
The team has yet to finalize a date for Hamilton’s first test in a Ferrari, though plans are underway for the Briton to drive one of the team’s previous-spec cars, most likely at Fiorano.
Vasseur assured fans that Hamilton’s integration into the team and his familiarity with the car would not be a concern.
“He is not the rookie of the year; I am not worried at all about this,” said the Frenchman.
“We know that we have a lot of procedures to assimilate during this couple of days, but he is experienced enough to do it.
“We have the advantage to have the simulator, and he will be able to do a race simulation and a qualifying simulation in the simulator and to be fully prepared with the steering wheel and all the particularities of the car.
“But I am not worried about this, and it is not the biggest challenge.”
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