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Lewis Hamilton would sit out the FP1 session at the season finale in Abu Dhabi in favor of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc's brother, Arthur Leclerc. This would fulfill the Briton's allocation of giving up his FP1 seat twice this year.
FIA had updated the rookie FP1 rules for the 2025 season and had mandated that each driver would have to sit out two FP1 sessions, in place for a rookie driver. This would help nurture young talent, who otherwise have limited to no opportunity of testing current F1 cars.
Earlier in the season, Charles Leclerc had given up his FP1 seat for Dino Beganovic in Bahrain and Austria. So, the Monegasque had fulfilled his allocation, which meant that the final two FP1 outings would take place with Lewis Hamilton's SF-25.
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So, he first made way for Antonio Fuoco at the Mexican GP, and with one FP1 slot pending, Arthur Leclerc is given the chance to drive the SF-25 at the Abu Dhabi GP weekend. This will be the 25-year-old's second FP1 outing, similar to his previous venture out in Yas Marina 12 months ago, along with Charles Leclerc.
Reflecting on the opportunity to be driving alongside his brother, Arthur said (via Ferrari):
"Charles and I are very happy to be driving again together in FP1. It’s very exciting to be in a car on the other side of the garage from him. From a technical point of view, driving the car on track is always useful for us drivers who mainly support the team with our work in the simulator back in Maranello. It helps us to give better feedback to the engineers."
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton will take over the Ferrari SF-25 from the FP2 session onwards at the 2025 season finale.
Lewis Hamilton asserts that the media negativity is affecting Ferrari personnel
Lewis Hamilton is in his maiden year with Ferrari. While many people had bolstered expectations about the team and driver pairing, the results have been far from what was initially thought.
Moreover, this has led to media outlets often reporting about how Ferrari is not doing well with their performance targets, as the Italian manufacturer has now even slipped down to fourth in the constructors' standings after trying to fight for the runner-up spot for a fair chunk of the year.
However, this media negativity has affected Ferrari personnel, as Hamilton revealed (via Motorsport.com):
"The negativity that's constantly within the media and everything like that, that affects them. They get home to their wives and their wives say ‘they've been saying this about where you work’, and I'm sure that's tough, and the kids, and all those things. So there's a huge effect on lots of people."
On the other hand, Hamilton has scored 152 points in the 2025 season so far and only has a two-point advantage over Kimi Antonelli, with the pair fighting for sixth place in the drivers' championship standings heading into Abu Dhabi.
