Formula One has changed beyond all recognition over the past two decades and in particularly its attitude to cars on track testing. With the majority of the teams based in the English motorsports valley, Silverstone was the preferred testing venue for those teams and most Wednesday’s during the European season, the sound track for the Northamptonshire countryside was the roar of V12’s, V10’s and even the later V8 engines.

In season testing was unlimited and the year before Lewis Hamilton debuted in 2007, he tested for 8,000km in the MP4/21, the current car for 2026.

In its early efforts to level the F1 playing field the FIA all but banned in season testing due to the massive spend by the bigger teams whilst those further down the grid could afford   way less.

 

 

 

Hamilton’s 8,000km of testing 

Now its nigh on impossible to test drive a current car whether for the full time F1 drivers or those rising stars in the team’s junior academies. The FIA TPC (testing of previous cars) programme eventually replaced the limitless testing era where both senior and junior drivers alike can test cars which are two generations older than the current season’s offerings.

The FIA regulations were tightened this year to prevent the full time F1 drivers having unlimited TPC testing. Now the teams have an annual allowance of 1000km which can be shared amongst their regular Grand Prix pilots.

Yet testing current cars remains possible due to the ever changing demands placed on the tyres from year to year as the teams export ever increasing amounts of downforce. Pirelli are allowed to test during the season and seconder which teams it likes for each of these programmes.

The last such test was part of the post season so called young driver test, where Pirelli confirmed the rubber compounds it would be offering for 2025. Mercedes deliberately refused Hamilton an early release from his contract to prevent him experiencing the current Ferrari car which had pushed McLaren to the wire in the constructors’ championship battle.

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Lewis gets to test 2024 Ferrari F1 car

Yet Ferrari are set to have the last laugh, as Hamilton will in fact get to drive the SF-24 next weekend, in another round of testing organised by Pirelli. 

Ferrari have pulled out al the stops for their star driver recruit in an effort to ensure his is completely at one with the team come the first race down under in Melbourne which included his Fiorano run of 90 kilometres last week.

Today he begins a three day program with the team at the Circuit de Catalunya where he and Leclerc will compete the 1000km TPC testing allowance, though it is though Hamilton will get the bulk of the time behind the wheel.

The Italian media reported niggles with the pedals for Lewis last Wednesday which the team will hope to resolve. The testing programme is pretty relaxed when compared to pre-season testing where in just over a day a driver can complete the 1000km limit with ease.

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Pirelli new C6 compound questioned

The Barcelona test organised by Ferrari will be swiftly followed by a Pirelli test due to take place in Barcelona next week on Feb 4-5th. Ferarri will be joined by McLaren and both sets of drivers will get outing in the 2024 car which has just retired, the closest Lewis will get to understanding how different the cars of the Scuderia are from the Mercedes platform which he is used to.

The results of Pirelli’s new C6 compound in Abu Dhabi were inconclusive for this tyre designed to be added to the current line up specially for use at street circuits. Its quicker performance but higher degradation is hoped to provide for more interesting Grand Prix around the twisty streets of the cities F1 visits.

In Abu Dhabi, the new C6 softest tyre appeared to be spent after just half a lap, when drivers were pushing it as they would in qualifying.

Ferrari have taken a gamble on Lewis Hamilton, who Toto Wolff implied was only offered a one year deal at Mercedes due to concerns over “shelf life.” Hamilton has failed to connect with Mercedes interpretation of the ground effect rules and found it nigh on impossible to manage his braking as he has done for th rest of his career.

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Ferrari work late to alter Hamilton’s pedals

The stiffness of the Mercedes suspension when compared to others last season was obvious even to the naked eye at the circuit. Hamilton will be hoping the more compliant nature of Ferrari car’s interpretation of the rules will suit his driving style better.

Lewis works the car as he brakes into a corner and the nose dives down under the stopping power, allowing him to shift the balance forward and rotate the car around the front end. Yet the uber stiff platforms many of the new cars run to maximise the ground effect downforce has stymied Hamilton who cannot find a driving solution.

Auto Racer now reports the issues Lewis had with the positioning of the brake pedals in Fiorano is not fixed. Although the desired changes required “a lot of work” for the engineers Hamilton is now happy with how they feel.

Next up is the steering wheel as Hamilton is particular in how he prefers the format on the screen to appear for him to read and understand the data. Teams do adapt the steering wheels for each drivers specific needs as Mercedes were forced do do famously for Hamilton.

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The Mercedes ‘magic’ button failure

During his intense battle with Verstappen for the 2021 drivers’ title, Hamilton came a proper with his steering wheel buttons at the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Following a safety car period late in the race, Hamilton at the green light surged into the lead.

He instantly locked up his front tyres I a cloud of smoke forcing him to career down the escape road at turn one as he watched the rest of the field file through leaving Hamilton left wondering what had happened.

Speaking to his engineers, Lewis asked: “Did I leave the magic on? I could have sworn I turned that off.” Mercedes uses a ‘magic’ button system to help its drivers better warm up their tyres and brakes during formation laps and safety car restarts.

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Bahrain the ultimate test

It shifts the brake balance towards the front wheels, and the extra braking force that is applied produces extra heat in the discs that is then radiated to the front tyres.

Next time out Mercedes delivered a revised ‘magic’ button formation for Lewis which meant he had to knowingly switch from one function another.

Ferrari will continue to develop Hamilton’s steering wheel right up and beyond the pre-season testing next month in Bahrain where it will finally be clear to all, where Ferrari are in the pecking order and how Lewis is fairing against his team mate.

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2025 Mercedes’ driver contract intrigue

Formula One’s ‘silly season’ – which describes the time of year when teams and drivers are looking for new futures together – traditionally kicked off as soon as the bell rang and school was out for the summer break.

This was epitomised in 2022, when at the final race weekend in Hungary before heading off into the European sunshine, Sebastian Vettel announced his shock retirement from the sport. “I hereby announce my retirement from Formula 1 by the end of the 2022 season,” read the beginning of his social media post.

Just four days later as the teams headed back to base on the Monday, Fernando Alonso made his own dramatic revelation as he announced he would be leaving Alpine to replace his fellow world champion at the Silverstone based Aston Martin team… READ MORE