Lewis Hamilton says his debut Ferrari at the Australian GP ‘went much worse’ than he expected | F1 news
Lewis Hamilton admitted that his debut Ferrari “went a lot worse” than he expected after the sevenfold world champion finished 10th in the Australian Grand Prix.
After crossing the Ferrari blockbuster after 12 years with a Mercedes, Hamilton endured a tough weekend in Melbourne while qualifying the eighth before requested the last point in the Sunday chaotic race.
The 40-year-old Briton remained frustrated for the missed opportunity, while Ferrari pushed the gambling strategy too far, deciding to stay on the smooth tires in the rain, first putting Hamilton in the podium company before leaving him to fight for the end of points.
“It was very tricky and it went a lot worse than I thought it would go,” Hamilton said Sky Sports F1. “The car is really, really hard to drive today.
“For me, I’m just grateful to have held him outside the wall because he wanted to go most of the time.
“Much that you would take from it and just acclimatize yourself with a new power unit in wet conditions.
“The settings needed are different, and a different way to drive and different placement on the steering wheel.”
Hamilton struggled to progress from the eighth because he was stuck behind Williams Alex Albona in a race that started in Mokra with a field on medium tires, before another late shower created a dramatic final.
With those still in the race, they switched to smooth tires 10 rounds earlier, the shower saw the leader – and the eventual winner of the race – Lando Norris almost entered the track and immediately entered the pits for another set of intermediates. His teammate Oscar Piastra stepped down from another.
Most of the front runners broke through, but Hamilton, who had just passed his teammate Charles Leclerc after Monegasque ended, remained behind Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunod, and Leclerc also continued behind.
Since Hamilton did a good move on treacherous conditions, the decision seems to have improved its appearance.
However, with the rain it becomes heavier, Ferrari failed to follow the steps of the Red Bull, which Verstappen scored two rounds after Norris, which retained its position behind the leader.
Liam Lawson overthrew his Red Bull to launch a security car, but even when Tempo slowed down, Ferrari acknowledged their mistake and expelled Hamilton and Leclerca from leadership to prevent the inevitable incident.
Hamilton passed Leclerc, and Piastra, who recovers in the final stage, on both sides of the acquisition of the place, exquisite Pierre Gasly, which meant he finished 10th.
“I hung out as much as I could, at one point I came into the lead,” Hamilton said.
“Just the leadership with how much more rain came, there was missing, so I think we missed.
“We tried, but the information I got was a short shower, really fast. At the time, it was only on the last corner, so I thought to me that” the rest of the trail is dry, I can follow it if everything is coming, “and then it came.”
Hamilton convinced of improving radio communication
The lack of clarity over incoming time was part of the wider struggle Hamilton suffered by communicating with his new runner Riccard Adami.
Hamilton has repeatedly asked Adami to “leave him on it” or say a word with a similar effect, because Italian tried to provide information that he seemed to believe he would help his pursuit of the passage of Albon.
Despite his clear frustration sometimes during the race, Hamilton praised Adami after the race.
He told reporters, “I think Riccardo did a really good job. We learn about each other.
“After this we will take over, we will go through all the comments – the things I said and vice versa.
“Generally, I’m not the one who loves a lot of information in the race, unless I’m looking for it. He did his best today and we will move forward.”
Ferrari’s director Fred Vassur admitted that communications were not “pure”, but insisted that the Italian band would learn from his first racing experience with Hamilton.
Vassur said, “This is the first race, the first time we have to communicate between the wall of the pit and the car.
“I thought we could do a better job and know a little more. Surely it’s not pure at all, but the strategy was difficult.
“We need to find a better way to communicate between cars and walls of the pit, but we will learn from the race first and that is not a problem.”
The F1 Circus is moving straight to Shanghai this week at the first sprint weekend of the season in Chinese GP, and the coverage began on Friday live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – No Treaty, cancel anytime
