Lewis Hamilton did not enjoy the most stunning of starts to life as a Ferrari driver, scoring just a point at the Australian Grand Prix.
But, after nine-time podium finisher turned pundit Martin Brundle branded Hamilton’s Ferrari debut “disappointing”, Hamilton suggested improvement is coming with more performance to extract from the Ferrari SF-25.
Hamilton made his hotly-anticipated Ferrari debut at the Australian GP, in what proved a rather low-key performance with the seven-time World Champion qualifying P8 and finishing P10.
Brundle went as far as to brand Hamilton’s Ferrari debut “disappointing by any metric”, as well as questioning an “angsty” attitude towards new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
However, Hamilton after the race stated that “Riccardo did a really good job” as they continue “learning about each other bit by bit”, with Ferrari and team principal Fred Vasseur taking steps to put better communication practices in place for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
“It was not the issue of Lewis, it was the issue of the team,” Vasseur added.
“We need to find the level of communication between the team, the drivers and engineers.”
And as Hamilton and Ferrari continue work to elevate that side of the performance, Hamilton believes he can get more pace out of the SF-25 with a better approach.
Speaking after a rain-impacted Australian GP, Hamilton said:
“I’m grateful I got through it, and I came out of it with a little bit of stuff, at least it’s one point.
“Obviously didn’t go off or spin today, but lacking pace for sure.
“But I do believe the car has more performance than we were able to extract this weekend. It was even less performance, for example, in the race, but I think it’s all settings.”
The race weekend had been dry up until race day, which Hamilton said therefore reset the process he was in of building himself up to speed.
“I definitely made a step,” he said on his performance in the dry at Melbourne.
“I think just for me, it was just confidence. It’s like just building confidence.
“From the moment I got in the car on Friday, I didn’t have the confidence, particularly in all the high speed, I was down a huge amount.
“Then into Saturday, confidence was coming back, was building, building, building. And then we got to the race, and again, starting from scratch, and I didn’t have any confidence, through pretty much most of the race.
“But I think in the settings as well, the car was very tricky.”
Having made a further reference to the Ferrari SF-25’s “settings”, Hamilton was asked what he would have done differently if he could have another crack at his first Ferrari race weekend.
“Many, many things,” he responded.
“I think setup wise, would set the car up just a lot different and position the car different in different parts of the race. Different calls.”
A key call which Ferrari made strategically was to try stay out when heavy rain arrived late in the Australian GP.
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc would rise up the order, but as the rain intensified, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto crashed, the Safety Car came out, Ferrari brought their drivers in, and podium positions were reduced to running in the lower reaches of the top 10.
“In the last sector, everyone was going off, but I was managing to hold it on,” said Hamilton, “so I was just passing people and once we got past the start line, it was dry, so I was like ‘this is fine for me, I can hold this out, only got a few more laps to go’.
“But then it pelted down just in I think the last two laps, started coming down. That’s the moment we should have probably come in.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris ultimately won the Australian GP, withstanding pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a fight to the chequered flag as Mercedes’ George Russell completed the podium.
