Lewis Hamilton has copied ‘obsessive’ tradition from legendary Ferrari driver during his first week at Maranello

As part of a unique preseason immersion program, Lewis Hamilton was spotted mimicking a previous Ferrari driver this week when he visited the team’s exclusive test track in Fiorano.

This year, the seven-time world champion will be paired with Charles Leclerc. On Wednesday morning, he drove a Ferrari SF-23 for the first time.

After completing 30 laps on the Fiorano test track, Hamilton’s lap times were compared to those of drivers like Michael Schumacher and Charles Leclerc, who set a previous record of 55.999 in Ferrari’s F2004 championship car.

Later, it was revealed that Hamilton’s Ferrari had pedal problems, forcing the British driver to make a series of mistakes as he tried “various adjustments to the pedals throughout the test without finding a solution.”

According to the Italian journal Motorsport, he nearly ran into the run-off area after locking up at the hairpin and the first bend.Before his much anticipated debut, all eyes were on Ferrari’s Maranello HQ.

Additionally, according to a different Motorsport story, Hamilton was observed using a notebook, just like former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

At the beginning of his tenure at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel reportedly became fixated on his “precious” notebook, filling page after page with in-depth observations about Scuderia’s 2015 single-seater.

Before bringing them to the following race, Vettel would meticulously take notes regarding each practice, as former BMW team principal Mario Thiessen reportedly described.

In 2020, Vettel declared, “I generally enjoy taking notes.” “Although I still prefer pen and paper, I do occasionally take digital notes on an iPad. Writing using a pen makes it seem as though you are writing it down and remembering it.

“I still have notebooks from 2007 and so on,” he continued. Even though they are no longer useful, they nevertheless exist. All of them are arranged in a bookcase.

According to reports, Hamilton was spotted sketching for track engineer Riccardo Adami how the pedals would need to be modified to meet his ergonomic requirements.

“The two pedals, in fact, have the shape of the sole with lateral reinforcements in which the foot almost fits so as to never lose contact,” according to the report.