Lewis Hamilton has been gifted a new home in Italy to facilitate his move to Ferrari, according to reports.
The seven-time world champion arrived in Maranello to huge fanfare at the start of this week as he finally joined the iconic Italian constructor one year after announcing his bombshell move.
The 40-year-old waved goodbye to his team of 12 years, Mercedes, at the end of last season, and has been keen to get to work with the Prancing Horse ahead of the start of 2025’s contest.
After landing in Italy on Sunday, Hamilton was treated to a tour of the factory by luminaries including team principal Frederic Vasseur, and chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna, which also took in the Fiorano house occupied by the team’s founder Enzo Ferrari, and the pit garage at the track.
Wednesday saw Hamilton get behind the wheel of a racing car for the first time, one day after he shared a first image of himself wearing the iconic Ferrari red suit.
Mail Sport exclusively revealed on Tuesday that Hamilton’s father Anthony joined his son for his historic first drive at Fiorano, alongside her mother Carmen, and stepmother Linda.
Lewis Hamilton has been given the keys to a new home in Italy in a bid to assimilate the star
The newly minted Ferrari driver took to the test track at Fiorano on Wednesday morning for his first time in an F1 car
The boyhood fan of the iconic Italian constructor announced his shock move to Italy last year
But even more efforts have been made to help the Briton feel at home, as per the BBC, with the team handing over the keys to a local property to help him assimilate in the Ferrari-mad country.
Hamilton is gearing up for a return to form after a difficult 2024 with his previous constructor which saw him finish seventh in the drivers’ standings and consistently outqualified by his former team-mate George Russell.
Sharing his first thoughts about the £50million move on Instagram, Hamilton wrote: ‘There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Ferrari driver, is one of those,’ he wrote.
‘I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream.
‘We start a new era in the history of this iconic team, and I can’t wait to see what story we will write together.’
Fans turned out in their number to watch the Briton undertake his maiden laps to give him a proper welcome
Hamilton has been touring Ferrari’s facilities and meeting his new colleagues since landing in the country at the start of the week
His test drive was in the 2023 model of Ferrari’s F1 development – the latest model allowed under the TCP (testing of previous cars) rule that permits a driver 1,000km (620 miles) of in-house practice.
The 40-year-old is expected to step up his on-track acclimatisation programme in Barcelona at the end of the month.
He will also take part in the official F1-wide test in Bahrain next month, in the new 2025 car, before making his race debut as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.