‘They didn’t say more rain was coming’

Lewis Hamilton believes his first Ferrari Formula 1 start went “worse than I thought it would go” as he suffered a lack of confidence – and moments of miscommunication – during the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton ultimately finished 10th, albeit after leading for a brief spell when Ferrari gambled on staying out during a sudden downpour in the late stages of the race. This proved to be the wrong call, as Hamilton dropped to ninth after eventually stopping for intermediates and was later passed by the recovering Oscar Piastri.

The disappointing result came in a race where Hamilton was getting acclimatised to the Ferrari in wet conditions and to race engineer Riccardo Adami, who sometimes got short shrift from his driver as the two worked together in a race environment for the first time.

Hamilton told Sky that he expected his first race in red to go a lot better, and later said that it was a significant challenge to get used to his new car and deal with the conditions around him.

“I felt like I was in the deep end today – just everything is new. From the first time I was 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 are thrown to you and you’re trying to juggle them,” said Hamilton.

“Unfortunately at the end they said it was just a short shower and the rest of the track was dry so I was like, ‘I’m gonna stick it out as long as I can. I can keep it on the track.’ They didn’t say more was coming, so then all of a sudden more came, so I think it was just lacking that bit of information at the end.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“I didn’t have any confidence today in it unfortunately, so I’m going to make some changes next week to the car. Today was the braking and the rear stability, particularly on power – there was lots of snaps, I was nearly in the wall a lot!”

Hamilton put his radio communication issues down to he and Adami simply getting used to each other, particularly as Hamilton formed a working relationship with Mercedes engineer Pete Bonnington that spanned 12 years.

Hamilton and Adami’s radio messages

Lap 14
RA: You can use K1 [overtake] when you’re close.
LH: Leave me to it, please.
RA: K1 available.
LH: Yes, I know. Leave me to it please.

Lap 28
RA: Avoid into 9 DRS, suggest upshift and then DRS.
LH: Please leave it, I’m learning the car as I go mate. Leave me to it with the DRS, it’s not an issue.

Lap 31
RA: Try to hold the K1, just for practice, I know it’s difficult.
LH: I’m not close enough. I’m not close enough. When I’m close, I’ll do it.
RA: Understood.

Lap 47
RA: This is the wettest part. You are leading the race.
LH: Yes…it’s very slippy rain. There’s more rain coming down.

Lap 49
LH: Thought you said it wasn’t going to rain? Think we missed a big opportunity there. What position am I in, P9 again?
RA: P9.
LH: ****

Hamilton explained that they would regroup afterwards to “move forward” and praised the job that Carlos Sainz’s former engineer did throughout the weekend, noting that the grand prix was a “crash course” in getting used to his new surroundings.

“I think Riccardo did a really good job – I think we’re learning about each other bit by bit,” said Hamilton. “After this we’ll download, we’ll go through all the comments, things I said, and vice versa.

“I’m generally not one that likes a lot of information in the race – unless I need it I’ll ask for it, but he did his best today and we’ll move forward.

“I’m grateful I got through it and came out with a little bit of something, at least at one point. Obviously I didn’t go off or spin today, but lacking pace for sure.

“I do believe the car has more performance than we were able to extract this weekend and it was even less performance, for example, in the race, but I think it’s all settings.

“I’ve learned a huge amount this weekend; there’s a lot to take away from it. I’ve got some changes I’m going to make for next week and see how it goes, but today was a crash course in driving a Ferrari in the rain.”

Photos from Australian GP – Race