Why Mercedes has blocked Lewis Hamilton from taking part in post-season test with Ferrari in Abu Dhabi

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With Lewis Hamilton switching to Ferrari for the 2025 season, the possibility of him running for the team in a post-season Abu Dhabi test lingered.

Beyond a filming day, a run in a 2025 or 2024 car outside of official tests is forbidden to F1 teams prior to the test in Bahrain next year.

Ferrari had plans to run Hamilton in one of their cars to bed himself in the team before making his full race weekend debut, however, this looks set to be postponed after Mercedes decided to block the seven-time world champion.

According to a report from Autosport, this looks set to happen at the start of next year with an appearance in the Abu Dhabi post-season test also ruled out.

Mercedes rules out Lewis Hamilton test due to sponsor commitments

Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes does not expire until the end of the year on the 31st December, which means he is still obliged to complete work for them.

There was hope from Ferrari that they could get an early head start if Mercedes released him for a post-season tyre test that takes place in Abu Dhabi, enabling Hamilton to run in their SF-24 on the Tuesday after the F1 season finale.

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According to Autosport, that scenario has now been ruled out as Hamilton has committed to end-of-year promotional commitments which include an appearance with title sponsor Petronas on the day of the Abu Dhabi test.

This means Ferrari will need to wait until next year when it plans to run him in a 2022 car as part of the ‘Testing of Previous Cars’ rules set out in the regulations.

Is Lewis Hamilton past his prime?

Discussions have been raised over whether Hamilton is past his prime following his disastrous weekend in Sao Paulo, in which the seven-time World Champion only just finished in 10th.

Hamilton spent much of the weekend complaining about the bumps at the newly resurfaced Interlagos, and spent the days after the race at the Mercedes factory studying the data to understand their problems.

Peter Windsor put it down to lack of confidence in the rain, which was partially due to the Mercedes being tough to drive in the conditions.

Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson felt Hamilton was now “past his prime” and “too old” when writing in his newspaper column, while Damon Hill responded by saying he would regret those remarks.