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.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc attend the street parade during the Scuderia Ferrari HP Drivers’

Charles Leclerc has had praise heaped upon him by both his current and former Ferrari team mates, as Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz respectively paid tribute to the Monegasque.

Eight-time Grand Prix winner Leclerc enjoyed a strong 2024 alongside Sainz, before the Spaniard made way for seven-time champion Hamilton at the Scuderia.

And asked in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Grand Prix what he’d made of his new team mate Leclerc thus far, Hamilton joked: “Beside his great hair, his eyes… he’s a good looking lad, you know [laughs]… No, I would say his work ethic – it’s been really good.

“I didn’t know naturally [about his way of working] – you don’t know what happens behind closed doors. Naturally I think every driver works really hard, but every driver has a different method in how they achieve their ultimate performance, and it’s been really interesting to see that his is not too dissimilar to mine, and you just see a hardworking kid just getting on with it.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc attend the street parade during the Scuderia Ferrari HP Drivers’

Hamilton and Leclerc attend the street parade during the Scuderia Ferrari HP Drivers’ Presentation by UniCredit event in Milan

Hamilton went on to herald Leclerc as ‘Mr Ferrari’, the Monegasque having joined the Scuderia in 2019 after a sole rookie year at Sauber.

“He’s obviously been in the team a long time, it’s his second team and obviously the team he was with before was obviously relatively short there,” said Hamilton, “and then he’s had this amazing time at Ferrari. So he is very much ‘Mr Ferrari’ and it’s been really cool to work alongside him, and I’m really looking forward to working alongside him for the year.”

Newly-minted Williams driver Sainz, meanwhile, called Leclerc a “great ambassador” for Ferrari, while also praising his growth as a driver and “human being”.

“I think Charles has been doing a great job in representing the Ferrari colours, the Ferrari brand, this last… six, seven years of his career,” said Sainz.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – FEBRUARY 28: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari talks with

Sainz and Hamilton praised Leclerc

“I think no one needs to talk about his talent and his speed, everyone knows that,” added Sainz. “But in terms of how he behaves, how he treats everyone in the team, how he takes the Ferrari brand all around the world, I think he’s doing an incredible job and he’s part of that team growth that Ferrari has seen recently, and I think in that, Ferrari has a great ambassador also.

“Good on him, good job – I think he’s been doing that and progressing both as a driver and also as a human being all these years. He’s now probably in one of his sweetest spots of his career, he feels mature, comfortable and probably ready to win, so let’s see what they can do this year.”

Attention now turns to the on-track action at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, as F1 fans prepare to see the first competitive volleys of 2025.

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton smiles and looks at the camera at 2025 Bahrain pre-season testing

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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz has pointed to “very positive signs” for Lewis Hamilton after his initial tests for Ferrari, from how the car drives to how he is seated within the cockpit.

The seven-time World Champion’s seating position became an issue towards the end of his time at Mercedes, commenting that the team’s 2023 challenger, the W14, had its cockpit “too close to the front”, as the driver’s seating position “changes the attitude of the car” and can make it less predictable to drive – a concern Kravitz says is not the case at Ferrari.

Kravitz points out ‘very positive signs’ for Lewis Hamilton ahead of Ferrari debut

Mercedes acted to adjust the seating position for the drivers on last season’s car, the W15, with Hamilton and George Russell taking two victories apiece in the 40-year-old’s final campaign with the Silver Arrows.

A new era is set to begin for Hamilton in Australia as he drives for his third Formula 1 team, having undergone a full pre-season schedule with Ferrari.

Having spoken in a complimentary fashion about his new car, the SF-25, Sky F1’s Kravitz believes the seven-time World Champion is aware of Ferrari’s potential when it comes to a possible push for a record-breaking eighth title.

“There are some very positive signs that Hamilton is enjoying the way the Ferrari drives more than the Mercedes,” Kravitz told Sky Sports F1.

“I think he has got what he wanted in terms of driver positioning within the cockpit. There are no complaints on any side.

“Crucially, he has identified that the designers and the team behind him are up to championship quality, and he recognises that he has everything he needs in the team to develop the car and out-develop his rivals to try and win this year’s championship.

“So even if the Ferrari isn’t winning races at the start of the season, Lewis Hamilton is sure that they will be able to win races and catch up with whoever the pacesetter is.”

Speaking after pre-season testing in Bahrain, Hamilton admitted the Ferrari is “massively different in characteristics” to what he has driven before at Mercedes.

This season marks his first in Formula 1 without using Mercedes engines, too, having driven for McLaren during a previous Mercedes-powered era.

Explaining his first impressions of his new car, as well as comparing what he has driven beforehand, Hamilton told media including PlanetF1.com in Bahrain: “Well firstly, they’re very well built, and massively different in characteristics.

“But rather than just jump into a different car and having it exactly the same, it’s been refreshing to have something different, to learn different ways in which you have to drive the car, different requirements to how you approach corners.

“The engine has a different tone, a different feel, different drivability, and I’ve been driving Mercedes for so long, which was such a great power unit, and it’s great to see that Ferrari also have a great power unit.

“And it’s something that I’m, again, spending time with the engineers from the engine department and learning of the processes they take to for reliability and power. That’s a process in itself, but so far it’s been really great.”

‘I use it as fuel’ – Hamilton explains approach to dealing with criticism amid new chapter with Ferrari

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – FEBRUARY 28: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari attends the

Lewis Hamilton has detailed his approach to dealing with criticism, with the seven-time World Champion stating that he uses negative comments as “fuel” as he continues to focus on forging his own path.

Hamilton featured heavily in the headlines before the 2025 season was even close to beginning, having announced his blockbuster switch to Ferrari prior to the 2024 campaign getting underway.

And while the move sparked plenty of reaction from across the motorsport world, Hamilton has insisted that any critical remarks – not only in recent times but throughout his extensive career in the sport – have simply spurred him on further.

“Naturally in our sport, criticism is something that everyone receives,” the 40-year-old explained during pre-season testing in Bahrain. “I think I’ve probably received a lot more of it perhaps throughout my career.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – FEBRUARY 27: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari

Hamilton is embarking on the next chapter of his career with Ferrari

“I’m just in the mindset [that] I just keep my head down, keep doing what I’m doing. I know that I’m growing each day, I know I’m bound to make mistakes – I’m only human.

“But one thing I’m proud of is that I have the drive, I have the focus, I’m able to admit when I’m wrong, and I know that tomorrow I will work to be better.

“It really doesn’t matter to me, some of the comments that have come out over my career – it’s not just been this past 12 months or so. I just use that as fuel.”

Hamilton is now well into the beginnings of his headline-making move to Ferrari, having officially began work at the Scuderia in January. When pushed on whether the romanticism that the team brings has lived up to his expectations since joining, the Briton responded: “It definitely has.

Lewis Hamilton’s first reflections of his Ferrari testing debut

“It’s one thing seeing it from outside, but then when you’re actually in it, it’s pretty extreme, it’s pretty incredible.

“Just from speaking to the whole team, seeing the whole team at the factory all in one space and seeing how passionate and excited everyone [is], walking around all the different departments… people who just live and breathe Ferrari.

“It’s what you grow up dreaming of getting to work at, those smaller places and towns in Italy where they’ve grown up dreaming of one day being there. [You can see] how proud they are to work there, and how much pride they take in their work is really beautiful to see.

“The Tifosi, I could see it obviously watching Charles [Leclerc] and Carlos [Sainz] over the years and with Sebastian [Vettel], but to be on the receiving end of it is a new experience that I couldn’t have imagined exactly.”

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