Lewis Hamilton rues ‘missed opportunity’ on Ferrari debut after ‘very, very tricky’ race in Australia

Lewis Hamilton admitted that his Ferrari debut was “not what I was hoping for” after the seven-time World Champion finished an incident-filled season-opening Australian Grand Prix in 10th position.

Hamilton and team mate Charles Leclerc ran in solid points-paying places as an initially wet encounter at Melbourne’s Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit moved to dry conditions, only for another late-race shower to flip the action on its head.

While some drivers immediately switched to intermediate tyres, others – including Hamilton and Leclerc – stayed out on slicks a little longer, briefly putting the Ferraris 1-2 on the timing screen.

However, as the rain intensified and they struggled to keep their cars on track – highlighted by a moment for Leclerc – the pair dropped back down the order and had to settle for minor points finishes.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 16: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari — Hamilton debuted for Ferrari in a dramatic race at Albert Park

After crossing the line in P10, Hamilton said: “I’m grateful to finish, at least I got one point. Overall, not what I was hoping for, but there was so much to get accustomed to, to get used to, with all the switch settings and changes that they [the team] were throwing at you [over the radio].

“Then just the balance of the car… It was really very, very tricky – really, really tricky today. I think we can improve that in the next race, hopefully, and get the car in a sweeter spot. I think there’s a lot more potential in the car than what we were able to extract today.”

As for what was going through his mind when he moved into the lead, he added: “It [the rain] intensified a little bit in the last sector, but the rest of the track was OK. Obviously I didn’t know where everybody else was, I know people had stopped…

“Then it started raining [more], and no one told me that it was raining more elsewhere, and all of a sudden I was faced with it around the rest of the track. A bit of an opportunity missed, but I’m glad I kept it on track.”

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Leclerc, meanwhile, put his hands up for a mistake during the late downpour – even if he managed to work his way back up to eighth with moves on Hamilton and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

“For a big part of the race we thought P5 was secured,” he commented. “Then, obviously, the rain arrived and everything changed. The first one to blame is myself, after the mistake I’ve done exiting Turn 11.

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“We lost three or four positions, which was then very difficult to recover. We overtook one or two guys on track, but then we were a bit too late for the pit stop and then we lost a few other positions.

“It’s been a tricky day, overall, but we’ll look into it. It’s only the first race of the season… Yes, it’s not the first race we would have hoped for, but looking forward we need to re-motivate ourselves for Shanghai and recover from what was a disappointing first weekend.”