Lewis Hamilton has already started working with his Mercedes team after his new employers "cut a deal" with McLaren.
The 2008 World Champion will swap Woking for Brackley next season following his decision to end his 14-year association with McLaren and sign a multi-year agreement with Merc.
Under the terms, Hamilton is only supposed to start working on January 1, but The Sun reports the 'F1 rivals reached an agreement which allowed Hamilton to meet his engineers at their Brackley HQ last week and rack up some vital miles on the race car simulator'.
Outgoing Merc boss Norbert Haug is quoted as saying: "Lewis has already been in the factory to see the team and fulfil some duties after we found an agreement about that with McLaren."
