In just three days, Lewis Hamilton will make his on track debut for Ferrari for serious. Having dropped a bombshell on his former boss Toto Wolff that he was leaving to join the Scuderia just months after signing a new Mercedes’ contract, the expectation was that his final year with the silver arrows might be difficult on a personal level. 

Wolff criticised the timing of Hamilton’s announcement when he faced the media for the first time since the news broke last year.  “The surprise was that I’ve heard the rumours a couple of days earlier, but wanted to wait for the breakfast we had planned and that was Wednesday morning. This was when he broke the news,” said the Mercedes F1 boss.

“I will always respect the difficulty of the situation that he faced and in the future we will discuss whether this could have been done in a different way or not. But I hold no grudge.”

 

 

 

Wolff jibe at Hamilton attire

Hamilton had one of his toughest seasons in Formula One having made his big announcement and whilst he broke his 56 race winning drought, his P7 finish in the drivers’ championship was his worst placing ever.

Yet on the whole Lewis’ retained a solid working relationships with the team and took responsibility for his poor performance when he suggested, “maybe I’m just not fast anymore.” This admission might have been somewhat of a concern for Ferrari, yet the rolled out the Maranello red carpet for the seven tines champion for his first visit to the team’s HQ.

As the teams are setting up in Australia, the first round of serious interviews for the year is taking place. Speaking about how he felt seeing his former star in Ferrari colours, Toto revealed, “In these fast-paced times, you get used to it quickly. In the meantime, it’s a normal picture for me,” said Wolff.

That said Toto appeared a little miffed with how Hamilton had dressed for his big arrival at Ferrari, in well cut Italian designed suit and tie. “That’s when I told him: ‘I try to get you into a suit for 12 years, and then you’ll do it on day 1 at Ferrari.’ We both laughed a lot.”

Verstappen prays, shocking weather due

 

 

 

Toto says its too close to call

Yet come qualifying and the Grand Prix this weekend in Melbourne,  the gloves will be off between Wolff’s two drivers and the seven times world champion. “On the personal side, I wish him only the best,” Toto confirmed. “On the race track we want to beat him.”

This year’s pre-season testing has had F1 observers suggesting a variety of pecking orders which will emerge amongst the teams Whilst Wolff hopes his drivers will be ahead of the Ferrari’s, he confirms the picture is not yet clear.

“The balance of power after the tests in Bahrain is that four teams are pretty much on a par on a fast lap, perhaps with a small advantage for Norris (runner-up last year with McLaren). In the race simulations, the two McLarens are clearly ahead, with Verstappen, us and Ferrari just behind,” concluded Wolff.

McLaren are indeed everyones favourite at present, but debates have raged amongst analysts as to the order of the rest of the top four. A number of F1 writers suggest Mercedes is ironically ahead of Ferrari as the W16 looked consistent and provided both Russell and rookie Antonelli with confidence.

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Mercedes ironically ahead of Ferrari?

Whilst the long run pace appeared similar to that of Ferrari, the balance of the car looked as good as it has been since the big ground effect car design regulations came into force in 2022. There were some giggly front brake locking issues, something Mercedes should sort out before the race this weekend down under.

George Russell described the test as “seamless” which clearly reflects a positive state of mind within the Mercedes team. Of course the unusually cold weather in Bahrain may have played into Mercedes hands given their previous year’s cars have faired better in these kind of conditions. Last year in the cold of Las Vegas, the ten claimed a 1-2 with Russell taking the chequered flag first, while the engineers and fans shivered in the cold.

Veteran F1 pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz though gives Ferrari the edge over Mercedes, although he admits the battle could be “very finely poised.” Add into all this that Melbourne can be somewhat of an outlier during an F1 season, which is portrayed no better in the fact that despite seven world titles, Lewis Hamilton was one the race just twice.

In the past ten Melbourne Grand Prix, just Nico Rosberg (2014,16) and Sebastian Vettel (2017,18) have won the racer twice. The other six Grand Prix have been won by six different drivers with Carlos Sainz the latest when he benefited from a Verstappen brake failure last year, whilst leading the race.

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Vettel has key advice for Hamilton

The unpredictable nature of the race in Melbourne will give Lewis Hamilton hope he can come out on top. Yet after spending twelve years with Mercedes and his entire career driving with Mercedes power, Sebastian Vettel believes the early days with Ferrari will be one of Hamilton’s biggest ever challenges.

“It’s big,” said the four times F1 champ. “Anybody who changes team, it’s a big move. New people you work with is probably the biggest one,” he told World Wide Sports. “It’s a different culture. Obviously most of the teams are English, only two are Italian. That’s probably the biggest shift.”

Hamilton will need to recover his once dominant powers over a dingle lap of he is to remain in touch with his team mate. Last season Lewis lost 19-5 to his team mate in qualifying, something he must rectify if he is to stand a chance at Ferrari.

Team mate Charles leclerc has already racked up 26 pole positions in his short career, and often in a Ferrari which was not the class of the field. Saturday will be most important for Hamilton, although he proved in Las Vegas his race craft is missing nothing as he drive from tenth to second behind team mates George Russell.

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Vegas GP a financial flop for Liberty Media

Las Vegas was the latest circuit to feature on the F1 calendar. The inaugural event in 2023 was hyped to the Max with an opening ceremony where the drivers were presented rising up through the stage like an old fashioned whirler organ.

But come the first day on track, the show flopped, as a lose drain cover practically destroyed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari just minutes into the first practice session. FP1 was abandoned as the circuit was checked for other huge loose pieces of metal. 

The knock on effect saw FP2 begin at around 2am  but by then the ushers had completed their daily working hours allowance and there was the farcical sight of the fans who had stayed up, being evicted from the grandstands…. READ MORE