Lewis Hamilton experienced driving a Ferrari Formula One car for the first time on Wednesday as Italy welcomed the seven-time world champion like one of its own.

The Italian newspapers were awash with coverage of Hamilton’s Ferrari unveiling on Tuesday, during which the 40-year-old posed at Maranello dressed in a stylish Italian suit and in front of the iconic Ferrari F40.

Fans who gathered on Wednesday morning at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track did not have long to wait to get a first glimpse of Hamilton as he left the pit box at 9.16am to get his first taste of the Ferrari SF-23, the car used by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for the 2023 F1 campaign.

Emerging through thick fog at the test track near Maranello, Hamilton waved to fans as he completed his first laps, with banners erected by the Tifosi to celebrate his arrival.

Hamilton has moved to the Scuderia from Mercedes, where he won six of his seven world titles and 84 of his 105 race wins in one of the most successful partnerships in F1 history.

Hamilton has signed a multi-season contract with the Italian team, meaning he will be with them next year, too, when the sport introduces radical regulations that could shake up the established order significantly.

After a tricky last few years at Mercedes, when he appeared at times to struggle for motivation, Hamilton is adamant he can rediscover his best form in Italy and win a record eighth title. If he does so, it would end Ferrari’s 18-year wait for a drivers’ champion.

The Briton is expected to earn more than £50 million per season at Ferrari, where he will be paired with Monegasque driver Leclerc after replacing Spain’s Sainz, who has joined Williams.

Ferrari will launch their new car officially on February 19 in Maranello, one day after F1’s public launch event at London’s O2 Arena, where all teams and drivers will be paraded on stage with their cars dressed in this season’s liveries.

Hamilton will get the first chance to drive his new Ferrari for real at the pre-season test in Bahrain from February 26-28. The new season begins in Australia on March 16.

‘Lewis-mania has already started’

The Italian newspapers wasted little time in heralding the arrival of Hamilton and the optimism it has generated among the Tifosi.

“Lewis is already home,” read the headline in Gazzetta dello Sport, alongside the already famous image of Hamilton’s unveiling that was carried across every Italian daily newspaper.

“Sold out hotels, fans waiting: Lewis-mania has already started,” declared Corriere dello Sport across a full spread of Hamilton arrival pictures, as well as a past photograph of Hamilton and his dog, Roscoe, next to Leclerc and his dog, Leo. On the front page of the same newspaper, Hamilton was labelled “The gentleman in red”.

“Sir Hamilton, the Ferrarista”, read the headline in Quotidiano Sportivo, adding: “Already an Italian pariah in Maranello: it’s time for the test in Fiorano.”

The main story in Autosprint hailed Wednesday as “Ferrari, it’s Lewis day!”