Lewis Hamilton earned a welcome gift on his first day as a Ferrari driver with reports that Project 677, the team’s 2025 F1 car, passed mandatory FIA crash tests.
Today (January 1) is Hamilton’s first day as a Ferrari driver, having announced before last season that he had reached a multi-year deal to join the Italian team starting in F1 2025.
Hamilton’s arrival from Mercedes marks the most decorated driver in F1 history, with a joint record of seven world championships and over one hundred wins and pole positions to his name, joining forces with the most successful team in the sport.
The British driver, who will turn 40 next week, is not expected to start work with Ferrari until later this month, with a private two-day test expected to take place at the team’s Fiorano test track across January 21-22.
Ferrari historically holds a so-called “wake-up” test at Fiorano in January, with the aim of the team and any of the drivers getting the wheel of an older car up to speed before the official pre-season in February.
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Despite having had the most successful season in years in F1 2024, with just 14 McLaren units in the constructors’ race, team principal Fred Vasseur recently revealed that Project 677 would be a “completely new” car for the final year of the current season. . Regulations.
And it appeared Ferrari had reached a key milestone in its preparations for F1 2025, with the car passing mandatory FIA crash tests and gaining homologation for the new season.
A number of design details similar to the 677’s design have emerged in recent months, with the switch to a pull-rod front suspension for the first time since 2015 being the most significant to emerge to date.
A front axle suspension, favored by McLaren and Red Bull, aims to flow air into the car’s complex underbody, with the ground generating a significant proportion of the car’s overall downforce under existing ground effect regulations.
The switch to a front axle suspension would have been influenced by the arrival of Hamilton, with his driving taste closer to that of his new teammate Charles Leclerc than that of his predecessor Carlos Sainz.
Ferrari is also expected to retain its traction bar rear suspension, despite the departure of former technical director Enrico Cardile last year.
Ferrari and Haas are the two groups still competing with a pullrod rear suspension, with all their rivals opting for a pushrod design.
Ferrari sees the pull-rod rear suspension as key to the tire handling of the 2024 car.
Cardile, who announced he would be signing up for Aston Martin in July 2024, revealed that the team did not discover any significant functional differences between a drawrod and pushrod rear suspension setup when the media reported that he was PlanetF1. com interviewed at last year’s SF-. 24 launch.
A revised wheelbase and changes to the gearbox’s internal mechanisms are expected to feature on the 677 project.
Development of the 2025 Ferrari is being led by former Mercedes engineer Loic Serra, who was appointed to the role of chassis technical director ahead of his Ferrari arrival in October having initially been recruited to work under Cardile.
Serra is understood to be close to Hamilton, having shared the driver’s reservations over the failed zero-pod design concept pursued by Mercedes under former technical director Mike Elliott across 2022/23.
Ferrari confirmed last month that Project 677 will be unveiled on February 19, one day after F1’s first-ever season-launch event involving all 10 teams in London.
A brief shakedown run is likely to take place at Fiorano in the aftermath of the launch, with Hamilton and Leclerc getting their first taste of the F1 2025 car.
Mercedes opted to run a black livery across Hamilton’s final five years with the team, discarding their traditional silver colour scheme in support of the seven-time World Champion’s off-track campaigning.
Speaking at last year’s Canadian GP, Hamilton rejected tips he would inspire Ferrari to transfer to a black livery for F1 2025, said he would continue his “impact” paintings along from Ferrari president John Elkann.
Asked if he had considered requesting a black Ferrari for F1 2025, Hamilton said: “I haven’t driven a black car for a while, so I probably won’t be pushing for that too early on, but no.
“We’ve actually talked about having an impact at work and John and the team have a lot of philanthropic work to do, so we’re going to be working hard with Mission 44 and the impact on the activities that they’re doing.
“I think in the game we want to keep doing more, but away from home we’re going to do quite a few things together, so that’s exciting. “
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recently showed that the Brackley-based team will retain a black livery on the new W16 for F1 2025 despite Hamilton’s departure.
Wolff told Channel 4: “He made us kneel when we did. He helped us make the car black and it will continue to be black. “
“We may not get out of this situation. “
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