‘Hamilton’s new Ferrari passes major milestone’ – report

Lewis Hamilton’s new Ferrari, dubbed the 677, has passed the FIA crash tests, according to reports in Italian media.

The seven-time world champion will be joining the Scuderia to partner Charles Leclerc, with the new machine set to make its on-track debut at Fiorano on February 19th, the day after the F1 75 launch in London.

Passing the FIA crash tests is a mandatory requirement for every time to race a new chassis, with McLaren infamously not passing the tests with its MP4-18.

The tests involve static and dynamic impacts into the chassis to see if it is strong enough to protect the driver with the FIA not passing a chassis off until satisfactory loads have been withstood.

It has been reported by Motorsport Italy that the new Ferrari machine has passed the tests with the on-track Fiorano debut now clear to take place.

It is unclear when Hamilton will first drive a Ferrari F1 car, with a test, also at Fiorano expected in either January or February in the 2023 car, permitted under the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme.

RacingNews365 technical analyst Paolo Fillisetti recently wrote about some of the major changes Ferrari is set to make to its 2025 car, which can be read here.