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Lewis Hamilton has expressed his excitement after driving Ferrari's 2026 challenger for the first time at the team's launch event in Fiorano. The seven-time world champion completed his share of 15 kilometres behind the wheel of the SF-26 with thousands of members of the Tifosi watching on in excitement.

Ferrari launched their new machine ahead of the first behind-closed-doors pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc stepping behind the wheel at Fiorano for a shakedown event.

To maximise the mileage within F1's 15km limit, Hamilton stopped the car suddenly on track after performing what looked like a practice start. Mechanics then wheel the SF-26 back to the garage, allowing Leclerc to head back out onto the circuit for more track time.

Speaking about his new car, Hamilton told F1.com: "It's just so exciting when they fire the car up and you get the new vibration of the car through your body, and then they open up the door and you end up going down to Turn One where you can see the Tifosi.

"That's something that I will never get used to, and something that I'll never be able to forget. But today's really about reconnecting with the team, reconnecting with that passion of all the people that follow this team. It's just a day that reignites you. It really also reminds me of why I love doing what I do and why I love this sport."

While Hamilton's excitement was palpable, team-mate Leclerc sent a clear warning that no assumptions can be made about the SF-26's performance relative to Ferrari's F1 rivals. The true pecking order won't become clear until the season opener in Melbourne, even with several rounds of pre-season testing.

"I'm definitely looking forward to this day every year," Leclerc said. "However, it's the kind of day where the main target is to check that everything is working properly and that there are no big problems, which was the case today, so that is a positive.

"But in terms of performance, in terms of feeling, it's too early to say. The conditions weren't that great either. There's a lot of fog, a little bit of a wet track as well, so it's not the best conditions to test a car for the first time.

"But I was very excited because there's been so much talk and so much work behind the scenes in order to get to that moment ready and so that the car could obviously go around the track normally and check for the first time the real sensors on the car to see whether it was doing the things that we expected."