Hamilton was behind the wheel of a 2023-specification Ferrari SF-23 bearing his racing number, 44, at the team’s Fiorano test track, and wore a new helmet design in yellow with a prominent Prancing Horse logo.

Hamilton has shaken up F1 with his move to Ferrari after 12 years with Mercedes, where he won six of his seven world titles. The 40-year-old British driver has said he’s fulfilling a childhood dream.

“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,” he said Monday after arriving at Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters for his first day at work with the new team.

“I couldn’t be happier to realise that dream today.”

F1 tightly restricts teams from testing current-specification cars but the rules are looser for older cars like the SF-23 that Hamilton drove Wednesday.

AAP