“Key appearance” in Ferrari garage a reminder of Michael Schumacher heyday

Ferrari chairman John Elkann has flown in to touch base with Lewis Hamilton and his F1 team on the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Elkann was seen in the back of the Ferrari garage chatting with team principal Fred Vasseur while mega star signing Hamilton was out on track on Thursday morning at Sakhir.

Elkann’s appearance at pre-season testing has been noted as a significant one by Sky Sports F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz.

“You know I like to get excited about these things - but when was the last time you saw the main man at the FIAT Group and Ferrari, the president, the man in charge, the man who signs the cheques, at Day 2 of testing?” Kravitz said.

“I’m sorry but this doesn’t happen! That is a key appearance by John Elkann who has flown in, presumably on his own company jet, to touch base with Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari team.

“That’s really interesting to see him there.”

Fellow Sky Sports pundit and ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok drew comparisons to when fellow seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher joined Ferrari.

“It’s a hark back to when they last signed a world champion mega star in Michael Schumacher,” Chandhok commented.

“Then, Elkann’s uncle Gianni Agnelli was in the pitlane with Luca di Montezemolo going to watch this huge asset that they’d signed.

“It underlines the significance to the Ferrari Group, not just the F1 team, that signing Lewis Hamilton has.”

Hamilton’s first words on 2025 Ferrari

Hamilton made his official pre-season testing debut for Ferrari on Wednesday morning, and ended up 13th in the timesheets by the end of the opening day of running in Bahrain.

Speaking at the end of the day, Hamilton delivered an initial judgement on Ferrari’s 2025 challenger, the SF-25.

“Testing is always exciting,” said Hamilton.

“It’s the first time you get to see what everyone has been developing and can start to get a feel for your own car and the year ahead.

“Being here with Scuderia Ferrari HP and in the SF-25 for the first time is an incredible feeling.

“Our focus right now is on experimenting with different things, gathering as much data as possible and getting familiar with the car, and we’ve already learned a lot.

“It’s too early to really understand performance, but everything feels good and as a team we’re working on the best way to optimise each run.

“There’s more to do over the next few days to get through our programme and understand the car to the best of our ability, but right now I'm looking forward to getting out there again.”