Ferrari have solved Lewis Hamilton’s problems with the pedals in time for the team’s second pre-season test of F1 2025, it has emerged.

Almost a year after his move from Mercedes was announced, Hamilton completed his first test as a Ferrari driver at the team’s Fiorano test track last week.

Ferrari fix Lewis Hamilton pedal issues after ‘a lot of work’

The seven-time World Champion completed 30 laps behind the wheel of the SF-23, the car driven in competition by new team-mate Charles Leclerc and predecessor Carlos Sainz in 2023, in wet conditions.

Reports from trackside claimed that Hamilton had issues with the car’s pedals, trying a range of adjustments over the course of the test without finding a comfortable solution.

It resulted in the 40-year-old making a couple of mistakes at Fiorano, locking up and running wide at the first corner and the hairpin.

Ferrari’s pre-season preparations have moved to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the home of F1’s Spanish Grand Prix, where the team are expected to stage a three-day test from today (January 28).

The team’s official Twitter account posted a clip of Leclerc exiting the garage in Barcelona on Tuesday morning, with settled weather conditions expected throughout the test.

And it has emerged that Hamilton’s problems with the pedals have been resolved in time for his second outing as a Ferrari driver.

A report by Italian publication Auto Racer has revealed that the desired changes ‘required a lot of work’ by Ferrari’s engineers in the time between the Fiorano and Barcelona tests.

It is said that Hamilton’s steering wheel could be Ferrari’s next target to ease their new signing’s adaptation after the seven-time World Champion used Leclerc’s steering wheel as a ‘baseline’ at Fiorano.

Hamilton is likely to request further adjustments so a bespoke steering wheel can be produced for his personal needs, with team-mates often having different preferences for button and switch locations.

Meanwhile, a separate report by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com has claimed that tyre wear and race starts will be the main focuses of Ferrari’s running in Barcelona this week.

As previously reported by PlanetF1.com, new Ferrari technical boss Loic Serra, who worked closely with Hamilton at Mercedes until last year, is believed to specialise in the area of vehicle dynamics with his expertise in suspension components like torsion bars and shock absorbers expected to prove valuable to the Scuderia.

It is said that Serra – leading development of Ferrari’s 2025 car, codenamed Project 677 – has been ‘very well received’ by the existing staff at Maranello with his ‘great knowledge of the tyres’ likely to be seen for the first time in Barcelona.

Ferrari are expected to pay close attention to how the behaviour of the tyres alters depending on the pace of the preparation lap, as well as different temperatures and tyre pressures at play, and how the behaviour changes over the course of a stint.

Reports earlier this month claimed that Ferrari are among the teams to have worked closest with Pirelli on the development of the 2025 tyres, which are set to be less prone to overheating and capable of longer race stints than the 2024 rubber.

The reports adds that race starts are also seen as an area of improvement by Ferrari, both in terms of the clutch cut-off point and general acceleration from a standing start.

Ferrari’s electronics team are said to be refining their starting strategies, with the way power is delivered at the moment of launch a key area of focus. Hamilton was spotted carrying out some race starts during his outing at Fiorano last week.

Ferrari are poised to remain in Barcelona for a two-day Pirelli tyre test next week, where Hamilton will get a rare chance to test the team’s 2024 car.

Under F1 rules, only cars older than two years can be used for TPC [Testing of Previous Car] tests to prevent teams from gaining knowledge that could prove useful during the current season.

However, Hamilton and Leclerc will be allowed to drive a mule car – effectively a heavily modified version of last year’s SF-24 chassis – to assist Pirelli’s development of the new tyres for 2026.

The ‘mule’ version of the SF-24 will aim to simulate the downforce and performance levels of the next-gen cars for 2026, which will see F1 embrace 50 per cent electrification, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics.