Lewis Hamilton arrived in Australia on top of the world. Sporting the new scarlet red racing overalls of Formula One’s most iconic team, the seven times world champion told a packed media room, “I definitely think this is definitely the most exciting period of my life,” said Hamilton.

Yet come the cold hard reality of the practice sessions in Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton was slower than his new team mate Charles Leclerc. In practice one the new Ferrari driver was over six  tenths slower than Leclerc claiming he was “struggling to turn the car.”

Practice two saw Leclerc top the time sheets and Hamilton had moved up from twelfth to fifth but remained four tenths behind the Monegasque driver. Come the round of media interviews, Lewis put a brave face on the events of the day. “Everything is so completely different from what I’ve been used to for so long, but that’s the challenge, and I’m embracing it,” he said in the media pen.

 

 

 

Brundle “alarmed” at Hamilton body langugae

“We were not completely satisfied with FP1, but we made some good progress in FP2 and got some solid longer runs in, which was important. There’s still balance work to do overnight, and we’re missing a bit of pace, but that’s expected. It’s about building step by step, maximising what we have, and continuing to push forward. Looking forward to working hard and seeing what improvements we can make tomorrow,” concluded the seven times world champion.

Australia is something of an outlier in terms of track layout and often throws up unexpected results. Hamilton won the race in Melbourne just once during his twelve year Mercedes career and there have been eight different winners in the last ten events held down under.

While the media friendly Lewis Hamilton was upbeat in public, his body language when getting out of the car did not reflect this attitude. Hamilton kept his helmet on and walked out the back of the garage, the sign a driver is very unhappy about something and doesn’t want to be photographed. Eagle eyed Sky F1’s Martin Brundle picked up on the Hamilton moment suggesting that it “alarmed me a little bit.” Lewis refusing to remove his helmet “I never think is a good sign, having done that myself as well. I think he’ll be a little bit frustrated… He looked pretty good early on, but it depends if he had some issues, we’ll find out later.”

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has brought an air of calm to the Scuderia’s garage. He faces the media attention head on unlike his predecessor who refused for a while to speak to the British media. Reflecting on his new driver’s first day in a competitive environment he said “It’s not that he has to be at the limit on one session, it’s not a matter of speed.”

Last minute FIA rule change before Australian GP

 

 

 

Ferrari F1 boss unconcerned

Vasseur continued with his mantra that these are early days and that Lewis is still getting to know everyone in the team together with the different software, power unit and systems. That said Fred revealed, “I’m really convinced that we have something very similar to Mercedes, but at the end of the day, perhaps not with the same name or the same way to use them.

“It’s just a learning process. We did one or two test days with the TPC one month or two months ago. It was a good way to approach it, but nothing compared to the race weekend. You know that means that we have to go through and we have to do it. I’m not worried at all about this.”

Vasseur refused to draw conclusions from Hamilton’s large deficit to his team mate in the Friday practice sessions in Melbourne. “I have absolutely no doubt he will be able to perform and perform soon. Last year, I think Carlos was P8 or P9 in free practice, and he won the race.”

Ironically in 2024, Lando Norris was quickest in practice one down under, with Leclerc then topping the time sheets on Friday afternoon. Yet it was his team mate Carlos Sainz who was the quicker Ferrari driver in qualifying, just behind pole sitter Max Verstappen.

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Can Lewis adapt to the “performance profile of the car?”

Sainz inherited the lead of the race from the Red Bull driver when brake problems struck his RB20 resulting in a mini explosion and a DNF for the world champion.

Yet all is not lost for Hamilton as the team will analysis his data overnight in an attempt to improve the balance of the car more to his liking. Lewis complained repeatedly throughout today of “understeer” in the car, something which does not suits driving style.

Having been outperformed by George Russell in his final year at Mercedes, ex-F1 racer David Coulthard observed that Lewis had never tuned in to the “performance profile of the car.” Ferrari have been working hard with Hamilton on this matter although day one in Melbourne looked to be more of the same for the British driver.

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Torrential rain Hamilton’s best chance

Charles Leclerc is on of the quickest drivers’ in Formula One today, something his 26 pole positions pay testament to. And as Carlos Sainz Snr observed before Hamilton made his debut for the Maranello based squad, his son Carlos has started on the Blackfoot against Leclerc when he joined the team back in 2021.

No F1 driver has won their first race for a new team since Max Verstappen back in 2016 at the Spanish Grand Prix. Whilst the weather looks set to drastically change for the race in Melbourne on Sunday, even a downpour of rain is unlikely to see Hamilton repeat this feat. Lewis was once F1’s rain meister but last time out in Brazil, Max Verstappen snatched the mantle from the British driver.

Max Verstappen finished the day in seventh place, remarkably behind the Racing Bulls pair who were the shock of the day in P4 and P6. Should the torrential rains fall on Sunday, regardless of where Max qualifies, the memories Brazil 2024 will flood back quickly, where he won the race by a country mile in monsoon conditions despite starting down in 17th place.

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Hamilton’s driving style is an issue in Melbourne

The Formula One season roared into life properly down under in Melbourne as the Friday practice sessions got under way. For F1 fans there is plenty of intrigue to follow this year given the number of driver moves since the end of last season.

Carlos Sainz is now at a resurgent Williams who many F1 analysts believed were the fifth quickest team in testing. As the day evolved in the Australian sun it became quickly evident the Spaniard was quickly up to pace as he and team mate Alex Albon finished the second session just outside the top ten and with identical lap times.

The Racing Bulls were to challenge the Williams claim to be the best of the rest with Yuki Tsunoda in P4 and his rookie team mate Isaac Hadjar two spots further back behind the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton… READ MORE