Italian media left surprised by one aspect of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari test
Early impressions of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari F1 debut have emerged from Italian media.
Italian media have shared their early impressions of Lewis Hamilton’s debut F1 test with Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion completed 30 laps of Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in cold, damp conditions on Wednesday as he got the chance to sample one of the Scuderia’s iconic red F1 cars for the first time.
Hamilton’s test in a 2023 Ferrari was not about performance but more an opportunity to get to know the working procedures of his team and begin to establish a relationship with new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
Italian media surprised at Lewis Hamilton Ferrari test
And Sky Italy’s Vicky Piria has shed some light on how Hamilton’s first week at Ferrari was received in the team’s home nation.
“Well, everybody’s so excited and it actually surprised all of us, even us from Sky Italy,” Piria told Sky Sports News reporter Craig Slater.
“I mean people have been here since five in the morning, waiting here, keeping their place and it’s just been a really good atmosphere, like a party and everybody just really getting excited for the season.
“I think with a good end of the season also with Ferrari that gave high hopes and then there’s been a lot of waiting.
“Because this announcement came the 1st of February last year, so I mean the Tifosi had to wait quite a lot of time before this could actually happen.”
Hamilton was seen making some small errors on his initial laps as he struggled in the low grip conditions.
Piria, who is also a racing driver, believes this simply shows Hamilton was starting to experiment with the car to get a better understanding of it.
“Even though it was really damp, wet and really cold, we saw Lewis try different stuff,” she explained.
“We saw him work a bit with the E-Diff, we saw him work with the brake balance, saw some locking. He wasn’t just going around and doing installation laps, he was actually trying things.
“Not pushing pushing, but trying things. That’s him getting into the momentum, understanding things, the settings on the steering wheel and how they work. They learn everything on the sim but then actually transferring the feelings onto the real track.
“So it’s really forward motion for him because it’s not much before Australia.”
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