Ferrari Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton believes his Ferrari SF-25 F1 car has more performance to offer than what was displayed at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend. Hamilton secured the tenth spot in the wet race due to a failed pit strategy but stressed that setting the car up perfectly was key to improving performance.
The seven-time world champion’s Ferrari debut race began on a challenging note. He qualified eighth at the Albert Park circuit but dropped two positions by the time he crossed the finish line on race day. While the intense race, which led six drivers to crash out, is said to have contributed to Hamilton’s troubles, he admitted that it was his first time driving a Ferrari F1 car in wet conditions, which didn’t help his confidence.
He acknowledged that while the car’s dry performance was confidence-inspiring in the practice sessions, he struggled on race day. Suggesting that the right settings could help extract more performance from the car, Hamilton said:
“I’m grateful I got through it, and I came out of it with a little bit of stuff, at least it’s one point.
“Obviously didn’t go off or spin today, but lacking pace for sure.
“But I do believe the car has more performance than we were able to extract this weekend. It was even less performance, for example, in the race, but I think it’s all settings.”
Hamilton hinted at his increasing confidence levels with his new car but admitted that race day was when he started everything from scratch again. He added:
“I definitely made a step. I think just for me, it was just confidence. It’s like just building confidence.
“From the moment I got in the car on Friday, I didn’t have the confidence, particularly in all the high speed, I was down a huge amount.
“Then into Saturday, confidence was coming back, was building, building, building. And then we got to the race, and again, starting from scratch, and I didn’t have any confidence, through pretty much most of the race.
“But I think in the settings as well, the car was very tricky.”
When asked what he could have done differently with the car’s settings if he had another shot at the wet race in Melbourne, Hamilton said:
“Many, many things. I think setup wise, would set the car up just a lot different and position the car different in different parts of the race. Different calls.”
Hamilton’s struggles with his new car in the wet were exposed after the season opener, but with dry weather forecasted for the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, he will be aiming for a stronger result to bounce back.
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