Lewis Hamilton finished 10th at the Australian Grand Prix, his first with Ferrari, as a late gamble on wet tyres backfired. The British driver felt like he was thrown into deep water, struggling to cope with the new car’s power unit and steering functions.
“Definitely a big crash course today,” Hamilton said after the race. “I’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall.”
The sudden change in weather conditions made it difficult for Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc to adapt their strategy. They initially stayed out on dry tyres before pitting for intermediate wet tyres as the rain worsened.
Hamilton expressed disappointment that Ferrari’s tyre gamble didn’t pay off, saying “We missed a big opportunity there.” Despite this, he praised his new team engineer Riccardo Adami, who is working with Hamilton to fine-tune their communication strategy.
“Riccardo did a really good job,” Hamilton said. “We’re learning about each other, and we’ll move forward from here.”
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur acknowledged that the team can improve its communication between the car and the pit wall, but praised Adami’s efforts in his first outing with the team.
“The strategy was difficult, and we need to find a better way to communicate,” Vasseur said. “We’ll learn from this race and move forward.”
Source: https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/44273474/lewis-hamilton-grateful-finish-first-race-ferrari