How Ferrari’s gamble on trying to turn around their – difficult Melbourne weekend backfired amid the late-race rain shower; watch the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP this coming week live on Sky Sports F1
Listen in on the radio messages from Lewis Hamilton’s first race with Ferrari throughout the Australian Grand Prix.Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur says the team simply made “the wrong call” as he explained why they gambled on keeping Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on slick tyres longer than their rivals in the late rain-hit stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Hamilton were running sixth and eighth respectively when a big late-race downpour started to hit parts of the Albert Park track with 13 laps to go.
The leading McLarens both soon ran off track – with Oscar Piastri then spinning off completely – at the end of lap 44 which was enough for race leader Lando Norris to head straight for the pit lane and change to intermediate tyres.
Max Verstappen inherited the lead by staying out, but then, as the rain intensified and with the world champion having to tiptoe around the track, Red Bull called him in to change tyres two laps later.
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri ran wide ending up on the grass, leaving him to rejoin in last place!Ferrari, though, kept their drivers out even longer until lap 47, by which time the Safety Car had been called for crashes for Gabriel Bortoleto (inters) and Liam Lawson
By then Hamilton and Leclerc, who himself had spun on lap 44, were running second and third in the queue behind the intermediate-shod Norris. But despite the gained track position, Ferrari decided the conditions meant they had no choice but to pit for intermediates too ahead of the race restart, a move which dropped the drivers down to ninth and 10th.
The best of the action from the first race of the 2025 Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix.But why the gamble in the first place?
“It was a strange situation because sector one and two were still dry and sector three was completely wet and it was a kind of a bet I think that Red Bull and us, we bet on the fact that we have to stay on track and to wait for the last part of the race with slicks,” said Vasseur to reporters in Melbourne.
“When Mercedes and McLaren, but McLaren it’s also because they went out that they pitted two laps before.
“We made the wrong call because I think the best option was to pit the same lap as Max and we made the wrong call at this stage.”
Could Ferrari have just stayed on slicks?
“I don’t think they’d have kept it on the track.
“And then on the restart it would have been absolutely horrific on those slick tyres.”
“In my mind I know that’s treacherous, I know it’s difficult, but these are the best drivers in the world and once you’ve made that decision you’ve got to think of the long game.”
“If they could have just survived on these dry tyres under the Safety Car… I think they should have stayed out.”
Did Ferrari keep their drivers informed enough about rain?
After rejoining the track in ninth place, Hamilton said on team radio to new race engineer Riccardo Adami: “I thought you said it wasn’t going to rain much? We just missed a big opportunity there.”
Leclerc, though, was heard being told by his race engineer about the impending arrival of the high-intensity “class three” rain.
Lewis Hamilton speaks after his opening race as a Ferrari driver, finishing 10th at the Australian Grand Prix.Asked about the apparent conflicting messages between the two cars, Vasseur said: “Yes, but this is very difficult that we don’t have a sensor for the rain, it means that it’s more a feeling, it’s what we can see on the screen, what we can have on the radar, it’s true from corner to corner.
“I think we were all surprised by the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, and now we did debate to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call.”
Het huidige puntensysteem in de Formule 1 heeft een grote impact op de all-time rankings van coureurs. Sinds 2010 worden er aanzienlijk meer punten uitgedeeld per race dan voorheen.
Een overwinning levert nu 25 punten op, terwijl dat voor 2010 slechts 10 punten was. Daarnaast worden er nu punten toegekend aan de top 10, terwijl eerder alleen de top 6 in aanmerking kwam.
Ook extra punten voor de snelste raceronde en sprintwedstrijden zorgen ervoor dat moderne coureurs sneller hoge totaalscores behalen.
Daarom domineren huidige en recent actieve coureurs de top van de all-time puntenlijst. Coureurs die in de jaren ’90 en vroege jaren 2000 actief waren, hebben daardoor een vertekend lagere score.
Als alle coureurs onder hetzelfde puntensysteem hadden gereden, zou de ranglijst er heel anders uitzien. Michael Schumacher zou bijvoorbeeld met een aangepast puntensysteem een totaal van 4.660,2 punten hebben behaald, wat hem op de tweede plaats zou zetten achter Lewis Hamilton.
De hoogste punten-scoorders aller tijden
De huidige top 10 van de all-time ranglijst laat zien dat recente coureurs de hoogste posities innemen. Dit komt door het moderne puntensysteem en het grotere aantal races per seizoen. Hieronder de coureurs met de meeste punten:
Lewis Hamilton staat met 4862,5 punten ruimschoots bovenaan de lijst. Sinds zijn debuut in 2007 heeft hij vrijwel onafgebroken in een competitieve auto gereden.
Zijn lange samenwerking met Mercedes, gecombineerd met het moderne puntensysteem, heeft ervoor gezorgd dat hij op bijna 5.000 punten staat.
Hamilton’s vermogen om constant punten te scoren is uitzonderlijk. Hij heeft zelden races waarin hij buiten de punten eindigt. Zelfs in mindere seizoenen weet hij nog veel punten te verzamelen.
De stabiliteit van zijn carrière en het feit dat hij weinig fouten maakt, hebben bijgedragen aan zijn ongeëvenaarde totaal.
“Hamilton haalt altijd het maximale uit zijn auto en laat zelden punten liggen.”
Zelfs als hij zou stoppen met racen, zou het jaren duren voordat iemand zijn totaal inhaalt.
Max Verstappen staat met 3023,5 punten op de derde plaats. Hij passeerde Fernando Alonso in 2023 en heeft sindsdien zijn puntentotaal verder uitgebreid.
Zijn opmars in de ranglijst komt door zijn dominantie in recente seizoenen. Met het huidige aantal races per jaar en de extra punten voor snelste ronden en sprints, kan Verstappen Sebastian Vettel’s 3098 punten snel inhalen.
Verstappen’s carrière begon vroeg en hij heeft zijn hele loopbaan onder het huidige puntensysteem gereden. In tegenstelling tot Schumacher of Alonso hoefde hij geen punten te verdienen in een tijd waarin een overwinning minder waard was.
Als Verstappen in de komende jaren op het niveau blijft presteren dat hij nu laat zien, is de kans groot dat hij uiteindelijk Hamilton’s record zal naderen.
“Verstappen is nog lang niet klaar en kan in de toekomst de lijst aanvoeren.”
Alonso blijft punten verzamelen
Fernando Alonso heeft 2337 punten en blijft nog altijd actief in de Formule 1. Hij heeft een lange carrière achter de rug met twee wereldtitels en veel podiumplaatsen.
In tegenstelling tot Verstappen en Hamilton heeft Alonso een deel van zijn carrière gereden onder het oude puntensysteem, waardoor zijn totaal lager ligt dan het had kunnen zijn.
Zijn comeback bij Aston Martin in 2023 zorgde ervoor dat hij opnieuw veel punten kon toevoegen.
Het is onwaarschijnlijk dat Alonso Verstappen of Vettel nog zal inhalen, maar zolang hij in de sport blijft, zal hij zijn puntenaantal blijven verhogen.
De verschuiving in het puntensysteem heeft een grote impact gehad op de all-time rankings. Coureurs als Schumacher en Räikkönen zouden veel hoger hebben gestaan als ze hun hele carrière onder het huidige systeem hadden gereden.
Coureurs uit het moderne tijdperk hebben meer races, stabielere auto’s en een betrouwbaarder technisch pakket. Dit heeft het makkelijker gemaakt om regelmatig punten te scoren. Hierdoor zien we dat actieve coureurs de all-time rankings domineren.
De komende jaren zullen uitwijzen of Verstappen, Leclerc of toekomstige talenten de records van Hamilton kunnen benaderen. Maar voorlopig blijft Hamilton met bijna 5000 punten de onbetwiste leider van deze lijst.
“It was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “The car was really, really hard to drive today.
“For me, I’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.
The best of the action from the first race of the 2025 Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix.
“A lot to take from it and just getting acclimatised with the new power unit in the wet conditions.
“The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel.”
Hamilton had struggled to make progress from eighth as he remained stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon in a race that began in the wet with the field on intermediate tyres, before another late downpour created a dramatic finale.
With those still in the race having switched to slick tyres 10 laps earlier, the downpour saw leader – and eventual race winner – Lando Norris almost go off track and immediately come into the pits for another set of intermediates. His team-mate Oscar Piastri spun off from second.
Lewis Hamilton embraces his introduction to Ferrari as he leaves Brackley for Maranello.
Most of the front-runners pitted but Hamilton, who had just gone past his team-mate Charles Leclerc after the Monegasque spun, stayed out behind Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda, with Leclerc also continuing behind him.
With Hamilton doing a good job of navigating the treacherous conditions, the decision to stay out appeared to have improved his prospects.
However, with the rain getting heavier, Ferrari failed to follow in the footsteps of Red Bull, who pitted Verstappen two laps after Norris, which maintained his position behind the leader.
Liam Lawson crashed his Red Bull to trigger a Safety Car, but even with the pace slowed, Ferrari acknowledged their error and pitted both Hamilton and Leclerc from the lead to prevent what would have been an inevitable incident from occurring.
Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reflects on all the big talking points from the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was passed by Leclerc and the recovering Piastri in the closing stages, either side of gaining a place by overtaking Pierre Gasly, which meant he finished 10th.
“I hung out as long as I could, got in the lead at one point,” Hamilton said.
“Just the guidance with how much more rain was coming, was missing there, so I think we missed out.
“We tried to but the information I got was it would be a short shower, real quick. At the time, it was only at the last corner so to me I thought ‘the rest of the track was dry, I can keep this on track if that’s all that’s coming’, then more came.”
Hamilton confident of improving radio communication
The lack of clarity over the incoming weather was part of a wider struggle Hamilton endured communicating with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
Hamilton repeatedly asked Adami to “leave him to it”, or said words to similar effect, as the Italian attempted to provide him with information that he appeared to believe would help his quest to pass Albon.
Listen in on the radio messages from Lewis Hamilton’s first race with Ferrari throughout the Australian Grand Prix.
Despite his clear frustration at times during the race, Hamilton praised Adami after the race.
He told reporters: “I think Riccardo did a really good job. We’re learning about each other bit by bit.
“After this we’ll download, we’ll go through all the comments – things I said and vice versa.
“Generally, I’m not one that likes a lot of information in-race, unless I ask for it. He did his best today and we’ll move forward.”
Got Sky? Watch F1 races LIVE on your phone! 📱
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admitted that communications were not “clean” but insisted the Italian squad would learn from their first racing experience with Hamilton.
Vasseur said: “It’s the first race, the first time that we have to communicate between the pit wall and the car.
“I thought that we can do a better job and to know each other a bit more. For sure it was not a clean one at all, but the strategy was difficult.
“We need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pit wall, but we will learn from race one and it’s not an issue.”
Craig Slater visits former Ferrari mechanic Claudio Bersini at the Scuderia’s favourite Italian restaurant in Melbourne to discuss Lewis Hamilton
Chandhok: Hamilton and engineer need to build bond
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok:
“One of the things that came out of all the radio messages we played is he and his engineer Riccardo Adami need to have a bit more time to understand just how much communication Lewis wants and what type of information.
“There were a number of times Lewis asked, ‘tell me something’, they would give him information but then Lewis said ‘it’s too much, stop talking and leave it to me’. They just need to build that bond.
“Race engineers and drivers will spend more time together than they do with their partners in the season. It’s still round one and they just have to find their feet, maybe have a conversation between now and China. I would be interested to listen to the radio in China and see if it’s different. They just need to have a conversation.
“When the adrenaline is pumping, it’s frustrating but they are figuring out how to communicate. Riccardo Adami has communicated that way with Carlos Sainz for the last few years, so he’s carrying on what he feels is natural as an engineer but he’s dealing with a different animal and Lewis needs a different type of communication.
“I’m sure if we rewound and had access to the 2013 radio at Mercedes, he and Bono wouldn’t be flowing as they were a couple years later.”
The F1 circus heads straight to Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, with coverage starting on Friday live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
His race debut in red proved just how difficult it is for a driver used to operating at his level to parachute into a completely new environment and work with different technology and different people.
The most public evidence was the radio traffic with his engineer Riccardo Adami that we heard during the race. More than once we heard Hamilton say “leave me to it” after he was given some information that he felt he didn’t need.
Alien – ET Truck
After he tumbled down the order when staying out on slicks didn’t pay off Hamilton told Adami that they had “missed a big opportunity.”
Lap 14 Adami: “You can use K1 when you’re close” Hamilton: Leave it to me please Adami: K1 available Hamilton: Yes I know, leave it to me please
Lap 29 Adami offers DRS advice Hamilton: Yes I know. Leave me to it. I’m learning the car as I go mate, just leave me to it with the DRS. It’s not an issue
Lap 31 Adami: Try to hold the K1 Hamilton: I’m not close enough. I’m not close enough. When I’m close, I’ll do it
Lap 49 Hamilton: Thought you said it wasn’t going to rain? Think we missed a big opportunity there. What position am I in, P9 again? Adami: P9 Hamilton: ****
Following the race he made it clear to the media that he while he was happy to take a punt on staying out, he hadn’t been told that more rain was coming.
“I think Riccardo did a really good job,” he said when asked about the communication issues. “I think we’re learning about each other, bit by bit, after this, we’ll download, we’ll go through all the comments, things I said, and vice versa.
“And generally, I’m not one that likes a lot of information in the race, unless I need it, or I’ve asked for it. But he did his best today, and we’ll move forwards.”
Hamilton’s exchanges with Adami were markedly different to the familiar tone he used with Pete Bonnington Getty Images
Team boss Fred Vasseur acknowledged that things could be improved.
“We need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pitwall,” said the Frenchman. “But we will learn from this one, and it’s not an issue.”
“The team works completely differently. The data is upside down compared to what I’m used to. I don’t understand it all”
The relationship between Hamilton and his Mercedes engineer Peter Bonnington was so close after working together for a dozen years that they could pretty much finish each other’s sentences.
It’s hardly surprising that it will take time for him to get anywhere close to having that sort of telepathic rapport with Adami.
However, the learning curve is not just about Adami understanding what Hamilton wants from the car and what kind of information he needs in the cockpit, it’s also the fact that the way the car works is so alien compared with what Hamilton is used to.
Hamilton’s steep learning curve
On Thursday in Australia he made an interesting observation about the difference between his previous and current power units.
“I’m still learning this new car that’s quite a lot different from what I’ve driven my whole career,” he noted. “In the sense of the Mercedes power coming to the Ferrari power, it’s something quite new – different vibration, different feel, different way of working.
“The whole team works completely differently. I was just sitting looking at last year’s race traces, and it’s upside down compared to the previous ones, what I’ve been used to. I don’t understand it all.”
Carlos Sainz, who has made the opposite power unit swap, agreed that he faced a similar problem.
After qualifying eighth on Saturday – right behind team-mate Charles Leclerc – Hamilton made it clear that he has much to learn about how to get the best out of the SF-25.
Leclerc led Hamilton from the start of the Australian GP and re-passed him late on, after dropping back due to a spin Ferrari
“We’ve been just improving every single lap, session-on-session,” he said. “Big learning curve this weekend, the car was so much different from the moment I left the pitlane, just feeling so much different than I’ve ever experienced here.
“And it’s been a lot slower process for me to really build confidence in the car. And if you look at the high-speed everywhere, I’ve been down all weekend to Charles, who just had it from the get-go, from just the minute he went out, he knew what the car does.
“And for me, I was just building up to that through the weekend, and I think I got a lot closer towards it in the end. And to be that close to Charles in my first qualifying session in the same car against a great qualifier, I’m pretty happy with that.”
Stark differences to Mercedes
Expanding on the areas where he was struggling he added: “From braking, just through corner balance is a lot different to what I had. Mechanical balance shift that you have is much, much different to what I had in the previous car.
“And the high-speed balance, the low-speed balance, is quite a shift. So she behaves a little bit different.”
Hamilton says that adjusting to the Ferrari is a “big learning curve” Getty Images
Hamilton can’t judge how long it might take him to feel comfortable in the car.
“I really don’t know. Honestly, I thought I was further along than I was, and then I got here and [practice 1], I was like, ‘Jesus, I’ve still got a way to go!’ There’s still a ton of tools that keep popping out, like ‘hey, what about this? I’ve never tried that. What does it do?’
“And it’s one thing saying it, but actually going out and feeling it… That’s what I’m just learning really, bit by bit. I think we did some good work when trying to move the car forward.
“When you have a problem in the car and you come in normally, when you’ve got the experience, you can say, okay, that’s this is where I want to go with it.
“But I don’t know which tool to use at the moment, so I’m heavily relying, for the first time, on my engineers, and they’ve done a great job. In the past, I would say, ‘Bono, this is what I want, that setting, this setting’, and I can’t do that at the moment.”
Rain added to the pressure
In that context the last thing Hamilton needed was a wet race adding to the challenge he faced on Sunday, despite his acknowledged mastery of such conditions.
“I’ve never driven the car in the wet – I don’t even know where the wet switch is really,” he said after qualifying. “I don’t know which buttons I’ve got to switch for tomorrow. So that’s going to be new.
“We’re using Brembos [brakes], for example. I don’t think I’ve used them for a long time. So how the Brembos behave in the wet, I don’t know if they’re glazed, what settings I’m going to have to use with this car? It’s all different.
“I’ve got three laps [to the grid] to learn the car in wet and then get out into the race. I’m going actually, for the first time in the wet in an uncomfortable position, because I’ve never driven this car, so it’s going to be a shock to the system when I get out there. I’m going to be learning on the fly and just giving everything.”
Qualifying spin was more visual evidence of Hamilton’s struggles Mark Sutton/F1 via Getty Images
Weekend verdict
At the end of a frantic afternoon he reiterated how much he still has to learn.
“It felt like I was in the deep, deep end today,” he said.“Everything is new. First time driving this car in the rain, the car was behaving a lot different to what I’ve experienced in the past, the power unit, all the steering functions, all the things that their throwing to you, you’re trying to juggle all these new things.
“I didn’t have any confidence today unfortunately, so I’m going to make some changes next week to the car, the set-up. Today was just rear stability, particularly on the power, with lots of snaps. I was nearly in the wall most of the time.”
Ferrari’s pitstop error
The rain in the latter stages of the race presented an opportunity for those who got it right – and the biggest winner was Hamilton’s replacement Kimi Antonelli.
Tenth and a couple of places behind Lewis before the rain triggered pitstop mayhem, the Italian came in at just the right time, and was propelled up the order to an eventual fourth.
Lewis briefly led by staying out, but a stop for inters was inevitable, and he fell back down the order.
“They said it’s just a short shower. So I was like, ‘I’m going to hold it out’. And the rest of the track was dry. So I was ‘I’m going to stick it out as long as I can, I can keep it on the track’. And then they didn’t say more was coming.
“And all of a sudden more was coming. So I think I was just lacking that bit of information at the end.”
Ferrari were the biggest disappointment in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton could only manage a fourth-row lock-out.
Leclerc, the lead car, was nearly seven-tenths adrift of pole-sitter Lando Norris. Hamilton was a further two-tenths back.
Considering that experts had said Ferrari were the quickest over one lap, they underachieved significantly. As well as the two McLarens, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Mercedes of George Russell, they also lost out to Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Alex Albon (Williams).
The main solace for Ferrari at this point is that Sunday’s race is forecast to be wet. That could theoretically equalise performance at the front, wiping out their clear deficit in dry conditions.
Ferrari’s ‘stay out’ message to Lewis Hamilton angers Fred Vasseur at Australian Grand Prix
It was clear by the time Q3 started that Hamilton wasn’t in contention for a dream debut pole. He had to produce late laps to avoid a shock exit in the first two segments.
Ferrari were out of sync with their rivals in Q2 as Leclerc and Hamilton both attempted an extra run on the same set of tyres. The Briton had to eat into his allocation during Q1.
According to Sky Sports presenter Ted Kravitz, speaking on his ‘Notebook’ show, there was some confusion as to whether to box Hamilton. Engineer Riccardo Adami frantically told him to stay out in the end.
This apparently added to the frustration of team principal Fred Vasseur after qualifying. It was a day where Ferrari lacked both performance and execution.
“It was ‘phew’ for Lewis Hamilton,” Kravitz explained. “He was just into Q2 on his last run with a P6, having looked like he would have been out in Q1 if he’d messed up that last attempt. It was quite possible today for Lewis Hamilton to be out in Q1, it was that tight.
“And then, what Fred Vasseur, the team boss said, was that, whether they messed up the set-up or the execution or the running, they were out on track at the wrong time. Hamilton said on the team radio ‘am I boxing?’ and Riccardo Adami, his engineer, said yes.
“And then there was a ‘stay out, stay out’ that we’ve heard Ferrari say in the past. And Lewis was like ‘what happened there?’
“It’s a good question, and what happened was they didn’t have time to box him and put on new tyres. Anyway, he didn’t have new tyres left.
“It wasn’t anywhere near perfect today. And Fred Vasseur, the team boss, [was] a bit annoyed about it.”
What Lewis Hamilton’s former boss Toto Wolff said about Ferrari qualifying woes
Hamilton sounded confused on the radio after his final Q3 lap. Adami assured him that he’d done a good job overall.
Indeed, the seven-time world champion can be reasonably satisfied to be close to Leclerc, having started the weekend six-tenths adrift.
What’s more, his old boss Toto Wolff says Ferrari are quicker than they showed on Saturday. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella agreed.
But Hamilton will desperate to ensure the SF-25 doesn’t become a peaky car. That’s what he had to deal with for years at Mercedes, leaving him perplexed and frustrated in equal measure.
Toto Wolff has revealed he still looks for Lewis Hamilton on the F1 timing board, despite the British driver no longer racing for his squad.
The Mercedes team principal is struggling to adjust to the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion’s departure to Ferrari during the winter, admitting it has been “a bit confusing” for him in Melbourne.
George Russell, who is still with the Brackley-based team, has been joined at the eight-time constructors’ champions by highly-touted rookie Kimi Antonelli.
But the Italian may not immediately get Wolff’s attention during sessions, with the Austrian’s eyes evidently tracking one half of the Ferrari line up instead.
“It is still a bit confusing,” the 53-year-old told Sky Sports F1.
“I still look at HAM on the timing board and I’m thinking he’s in a Mercedes. So I need to get used to it.”
The 105-time grand prix winner joined his former team-mate in the final section of qualifying at Albert Park, setting the eighth-best lap time, with Russell going fourth fastest.
Meanwhile, the driver now occupying Hamilton’s cockpit suffered damage in the first part of qualifying and will line up for the Australian Grand Prix in P16.
Join RacingNews365’s Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they discuss the biggest talking points from qualifying after McLaren secured a front row lock-out.
Lewis Hamilton reacts to qualifying eighth on his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton was encouraged by the small gap to teammate Charles Leclerc on his F1 qualifying debut for Ferrari.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton could only qualify eighth, one place behind Leclerc, as Ferrari struggled for one lap pace at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton admitted he was surprised by Ferrari’s eight-tenth deficit to McLaren’s Lando Norris, who stormed to pole position ahead of Oscar Piastri.
“I generally feel good,” Hamilton said. “I had a really good time out there today. Everything has been a first this weekend; my first practice sessions with Ferrari, my first qualifying.
“It’s been a lot of work to really adapt, this car is so much different here to what I’ve experienced in the past. But it’s been interesting.
“I definitely didn’t know that we’d be eight tenths off today, but there is a lot to dissect for sure.”
Leclerc leads early Ferrari head-to-head
Hamilton has trailed new teammate Leclerc in every session in Melbourne so far but ended up just 0.218s slower on the final run of Q3.
The 40-year-old Briton was ultimately pleased with his effort as he continues to get up to speed at Ferrari and bounce back from his qualifying struggles during 2024.
“Charles has been in this team for seven years, he knows this car in and out – not necessarily the new one, but the general characteristics of our cars – and all the tools and everything,” Hamilton explained.
“I’m still learning those so to be that close in my first qualifying session I’ll definitely take it. We’ll just get our heads down and start working trying to find out why we’re not on pace with the front-runners.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a challenge, I’ve never driven this car in the rain. I don’t even know the rain settings so I’ve got to go and study that tonight and it’ll be a learning experience again tomorrow.”
Both Leclerc and Hamilton would not have expected to find themselves behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bull, or Alex Albon’s Williams, who qualified fifth and sixth respectively.
Asked if he was surprised by Ferrari’s struggles, Leclerc replied: “Yes I am.
“Not totally surprised with the feeling I had in Q3, but surprised overall after a day like we had yesterday where everything ran smoothly. Everything felt pretty ok.
“In Q3 I found myself with a different car and I don’t really know why. So we’ve got to look into it.”
Ever since entering the Formula 1 paddock with a Pussycat Doll on his arm, Lewis Hamilton has kept his private life quiet, until now.
The sporting megastar dated Nicole Scherzinger from 2007 to 2015, but rumours aside, he’s kept things under lock and key ever since, but has now opened up to his new country and fans.
The seven-time champion has realised a dream of racing for Ferrari, by far the most iconic team in motorsport, and out of the British and American eye, he got up close and personal in Italy before his competitive debut.
In an interview with media giants La Gazzetta dello Sport on the eve of the season opener in Australia, Hamilton discussed his aspirations to become a father for the first time.
Admitting that F1 has gotten in the way until now, the 40-year-old said: “I admire those who can do their job well and have a family at the same time.
“But if I had a son, I would always have my eyes on him, because I love children. I am an uncle and I love spending time with my nephews, but looking after them when they are with me is stressful and requires commitment.
read more on lewis hamilton
“But I have no regrets about it: I know where I am in my life, I am lucky and happy. In the time I have left in F1 I want to give my best and I will do it.
“Yes, I would love to [have children]. I love children and it’s definitely something I would like to do in my future.”
For now Hamilton’s future is Ferrari and nothing else, as he looks to do the incredible and win a record-breaking eighth drivers’ championship and the Scuderia’s first since 2007 – the year he joined the sport.
Back then, he completed an incredible journey to motorsport’s pinnacle, needing McLaren head Ron Dennis to take a punt on him as a kid and provide the crucial funding that’s unfortunately non-negotiable in F1.
Most read in Motorsport
To make it, his father Anthony worked tirelessly in the background to seal the deal, but Hamilton has rarely talked about how difficult it was for his mother, Carmen Larbalestier.
“My parents sacrificed everything to allow me to get to where I am,” the Stevenage-born star recalled.
Hamilton had his parents alongside him on an emotional first day in
“As a kid I lived with my mother, but at a certain point she let me go and live with my father to give me the chance to focus on racing. She basically gave up a son.”
Carmen’s decision saw her son become one of Britain’s greatest-ever sportspeople, but even seven championships and a record 105 race wins is nothing compared to a first to start 2025.
Hamilton finally wore red for the first time as a Ferrari driver in January as thousands waited at their Fiorano test track to see their new hero.
There beside him was Anthony, and also Carmen, shooting away on her camera phone despite a glut of professional photographers on the scene.
“Everyone in my family made huge sacrifices and having them by my side on a day like this was important to me,” Hamilton said of the moment.
“It was beautiful to see my mother excited. It’s the first time I’ve seen her so happy about something to do with racing.
Footage shows gruelling Lewis Hamilton sweat sesh at 4am to prepare for Ferrari debut
“When she found out I was going to Ferrari she was really excited, so much so that I said to her: ‘Wait, are you happy?’ I wasn’t used to seeing her like that!”
Since becoming a Sir in 2021, Hamilton has reiterated that he wants to incorporate his mother’s Larbalestier surname as a tribute as she was alongside him on the day at Windsor Castle.
His family are already embossed in tributes across his body, but in another personal reveal, he’s admitted his time for tattoos is over in his 40s.
“I’ve kind of given up on tattoos. It takes too much time and I don’t have enough,” he told Gazzetta.
“I’m proud of my tattoos, without them I would feel naked. They are a part of me and they are part of my personal history.”
After a long build-up, Lewis Hamilton finally takes in his first start for Ferrari in Australia.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has said the “huge wave” of marketing after the arrival of Lewis Hamilton will switch “back to reality” once qualifying starts in Melbourne.
Hamilton was 12th fastest in first practice, but the Ferrari boss was quick to point out where his predecessor, Carlos Sainz, was in the lower reaches of the top 10 in practice last season before going on to win the Australian Grand Prix – highlighting the irrelevance of early running.
Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari ‘back to reality’ once first qualifying session arrives
With plenty of build-up having taken place, the first barometer of where the teams are in terms of performance will come on low fuel in qualifying on Saturday.
Vasseur explained that every team is in the “same situation” of being “best friends” and potential World Champions over the winter break, but then “reality” hits once the track action starts.
As for Hamilton, the Ferrari boss explained there remains an acclimatisation process within the team, but the seven-time World Champion is “fully focused on the objective.”
When presented with Hamilton’s comments that he is currently in the most exciting period of his life after his Ferrari move, the team principal agreed with that sentiment, but also wanted to look to “business as usual” now that track action has begun.
“The word of Lewis? Don’t ask me,” Vasseur quipped in the team principals’ press conference in Melbourne.
“I’m thinking the same, but for sure I think he’s happy, it’s a good journey for him, he enjoys what he’s doing, and we enjoy to work with him.
“But you know that we are all in the same situation that we’re all doing the winter period. We are all World Champion, we are all best friends, and then you have the first quali and we are back to the reality. And that’s okay.
“Now it’s the start of the season, and we have to be focused on this.
“We had two months of marketing, I would say that it was a huge wave that we had at the beginning.
“The most important [thing] is to be able to turn this page and to be back to business as usual, and to do the FP1 and the FP2, and it will be a long way.
“We have something like 150 sessions over the year, but it means that it’s just the beginning of the story, as James [Vowles] said before, and we have just to be focused on it, to forget about the world around us and to work as a team.
“But, honestly, when he’s in the briefing room, he is fully focused on the objective, and he knows perfectly the job, and he has to build up the relationship with the team. And this is not a long process, but it’s a process that we have to follow. And we are on this path, but honestly we don’t have to expect too much for the first session.
“We know that we have a long way and honestly, that we did a good step also, I think, compared to last year. And I have a good feeling about that.
“I have absolutely no doubt that he will be able to perform and to perform soon. And last year, I think that Carlos [Sainz] was P8 or P9 in free practice, and he won the race.”
