Ferrari have added a second private test session to Lewis Hamilton’s pre-season schedule for F1 2025, it has been claimed, with an extra outing planned in Barcelona in late January.

It comes after F1’s governing body the FIA announced a key rule change for the F1 2025 season, partly inspired by Red Bull and Max Verstappen according to a report.

Rumour: Lewis Hamilton set for second private Ferrari test in Barcelona
Hamilton has officially joined Ferrari ahead of the new season following the expiry of his Mercedes contract on December 31 2024.

The seven-time World Champion’s move to Maranello has been almost a year in the making, with Hamilton announcing last February that he would join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.

After a short winter break, which will see Hamilton celebrate his 40th birthday on January 7, the British driver is expected to link up with his new employers later this month.

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Hamilton is expected to receive his first taste of Ferrari machinery at the team’s Fiorano test track later this month, with the team yet to decide whether to use the 2022 car, the F1-75, or the 2023 chassis for Hamilton’s introductory outing.

Ferrari have traditionally held a so-called ‘wake-up’ test across two days at Fiorano in January, allowing team and drivers to get back up to speed ahead of official pre-season running in February.

This year’s Fiorano test is set to be held in the week commencing January 20, with reports last month claiming Ferrari have drawn up plans to move the run to Mugello or Imola in the event of bad weather.

A report by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com has claimed that Ferrari have added an extra January test to Hamilton’s winter schedule, with the team planning a second outing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the home of F1’s Spanish Grand Prix, at the end of this month.

It is said that Ferrari have booked a window of four days at the Barcelona circuit for late January, giving the team crucial flexibility to conduct two crucial days of on-track running.

It comes after a rule change announced by the FIA last month, allowing drivers participating in the World Championship to conduct 1,000 kilometres of TPC running per year across a maximum of four different test days.

The rules are relaxed for drivers not competing in F1, with 20 TPC days available with no mileage limit.

The adjustment to the sporting regulations was made for F1 2025 after some F1 teams were perceived to be going against the spirit of the rules by holding TPC tests with active drivers last year.

Verstappen’s test at Imola behind the wheel of Red Bull’s 2022 car last June has been cited as a key example, with TPC tests originally intended to offer mileage to young drivers.

It means Hamilton will have a total of four track days spread across the Fiorano and Barcelona tests to familiarise himself with his new team before the start of F1’s official three-day test in Bahrain scheduled for February 26-28.

The news comes after it emerged that the cockpit of the Ferrari has been moved further back for F1 2025 as the team prepare to welcome Hamilton.

Cockpit positioning proved a major irritation for Hamilton during his penultimate season with Mercedes in 2023, with the seven-time World Champion complaining that he was sat too close to the front wheels.

Development of Ferrari’s F1 2025 car – codenamed Project 677 – is being led by new chassis technical director Loic Serra, who worked closely with Hamilton at Mercedes until last year and is believed to have shared the driver’s doubts over the zero-pod design concept pursued by the Brackley-based team in 2022/23.

It is unclear if Hamilton has had any direct influence on the decision to adjust the seating position of Ferrari’s F1 2025 car.

The adjustment to the cockpit is the latest Project 677 design detail to emerge since last summer, with the car also set to feature a pullrod front suspension for the first time since 2015.

A pullrod front suspension layout, favoured by rivals McLaren and Red Bull, is believed to enhance airflow towards the complex underbody, which generates a significant proportion of the car’s overall downforce under the ground-effect regulations in place since 2022.

A revised wheelbase and a shorter gearbox is also expected to feature on Project 677, which will be unveiled on February 19 – one day after F1’s first-ever collective season-launch event attended by all 10 teams in London.

However, Ferrari are poised to retain the team’s divisive pullrod rear suspension pursued by former technical director Enrico Cardile.

Ferrari and customer outfit Haas are the only two teams still competing with a pullrod rear suspension, with their rivals all opting for a pushrod layout.

The Scuderia are thought to view the pullrod rear suspension as a key factor behind the excellent tyre management of the 2024 car, with the changes to Project 677 aimed at achieving a better weight distribution for further gains in this area.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at the launch of Ferrari’s 2024 car, Cardile was adamant that the team found no significant performance differences between a pullrod and pushrod rear suspension.

Cardile has since joined Aston Martin for the F1 2025 season, with Serra leading development of Project 677 having initially being recruited to work under his predecessor.

With Peter Bonnington promoted to a more senior role at Mercedes this year, Riccardo Adami is poised to become Hamilton’s new race engineer for F1 2025.

Adami previously worked with Hamilton’s predecessor Carlos Sainz between 2021 and 2024, as well as four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel between 2015 and 2020.

Reports last year claimed Hamilton had approached Vettel to gain an initial impression of Adami, with the former Red Bull and Aston Martin driver giving a glowing endorsement of his former colleague.