Lewis Hamilton will make his first gauges in 2023. The seven-time world champion gets into an old Mercedes car for a Pirelli tyre test at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The Formula 1 season is slowly getting under way. This year's first car launch is already a fact and a big presentation by Red Bull Racing in New York follows on Friday. Meanwhile, some teams are also already popping onto the track. McLaren and Mercedes, for example, are in France for a Pirelli test.

Mercedes in action at Paul Ricard

Mercedes' twitter channel shows Lewis Hamilton getting into his old car for the first metres of the season. The Brit is not alone. Images of Lando Norris on the track also surfaced on Wednesday and Oscar Piastri driving on behalf of McLaren's team on Thursday. Hamilton takes over the wheel at Mercedes from George Russell, who was already in action on Wednesday.

The announcement of Mercedes' new car remains to be made. The German team will present the car second-to-last, on Wednesday 15 February. After that, it will be another week until the winter test in Bahrain, where we will really see how much Mercedes' new car has changed from 2022.

Look who’s back… pic.twitter.com/9tcB1jW4om

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 2, 2023

LH in the hot seat. pic.twitter.com/71VQWRzM2i

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 2, 2023