"Man, I told ya..." Lewis Hamilton's Debut with Ferrari: A Wet, White-Knuckle Ride
Unyielding Lewis Hamilton careers through Ferrari's chaotic terrain
By Torben Siemer, Street-Smart Wordsmith
Lewis Hamilton's inaugural race with Ferrari left the Italian press grumbling and the driver himself less than thrilled. Was it a single misstep or a sign of things to come?
In lap 46, everything seemed peachy. Hamilton snatched the lead in the Australian Grand Prix, clocking the first lead kilometers for Ferrari. But it was all thanks to Ferrari letting him carry on while rivals retreated to the pits to swap from slicks to intermediates. Even over the radio, Hamilton queried if more rain was on the horizon. But racing engineer Riccardo Adami assured him: "Negative."
A blend of bad judgement and overconfidence, as Hamilton himself admitted, saw him ending the race in Melbourne's Albert Park in a disheartening 10th place. The opportunity to outmaneuver the competition during rapidly changing weather conditions was lost. Lando Norris, the McLaren racer, sped by Hamilton in lap 47, leaving the Scuderia driver more than 10 seconds in the dust before Hamilton could even grip the wheel tighter.
"I thought you said it would only drizzle?" Hamilton radioed, clearly displeased. "We missed a big chance here."
The Chinese Grand Prix: Chance or Peril?
Just a solitary point for 10th place wasn't enough to brighten Hamilton's mood. He aims for his eighth world title with Ferrari but admitted, "It was far worse than I had expected today." The car was "incredibly tricky" to drive, and Hamilton was thankful he avoided the barriers, as the vehicle seemed to have an unbidden admiration for them.
Sports Slam: Hamilton Gets Slapped with a Double Dissappointment in Ferrari Debut
Lewis Hamilton's link-up with the esteemed Formula 1 team, potentially the best of all time, is already under the microscope. Hamilton's poor performance in Melbourne has directed more attention towards him and Ferrari, especially with the Chinese Grand Prix coming up this week. It's a golden opportunity to set things right...and a risky bet if things go sour.
"The honeymoon is over," summarized Günther Steiner, Haas team principal turned F1 expert at RTL, in a conversation with RTL/ntv. "Now he needs to deliver. Among the four big teams, Ferrari is under the most pressure." Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc fared no better, finishing 8th, leaving Ferrari in 7th place in the constructors' championship. Behind Sauber, where Nico Hülkenberg brought home more points in his first race with the Audi team than his two predecessors could muster in the entire last season.
Lewis Hamilton didn't merely lament poor drivability but also communication issues from the pit wall. He felt a lack of "leadership," especially in the latter stages of the race. During the race, he also repeatedly criticized the influx of information Adami tried to convey to him. "We need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pit wall," Frédéric Vasseur, team principal, shared his own dissatisfaction. Perhaps, with time, Hamilton and Adami will find their rhythm. Perhaps, as they say, hindsight is 20/20, and this could very well be the first chink in their seemingly unbeatable partnership.
Italian newspapers, though, spared no criticism. "Tuttosport" spoke of a "bitter awakening for Italian fans," asserting that "Ferrari is not the car that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would have wanted." The "Corriere della Sera" saw a "sad performance," and the "Corriere dello Sport" even called it a "catastrophe." At Ferrari, things are always bigger, bolder, and more intense.
Hamilton, however, tried to maintain an optimistic front before departure from Melbourne: "I think there's a lot more potential in the car than what we showed today." He conceded that the car behaved differently in the rain compared to his prior experiences. So, is it just a matter of time? Leclerc also spoke of a "difficult day" but stressed that it was "merely the first race of the season." They need to convene in Shanghai and recover from the disappointing first weekend. Otherwise, McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull could sprint ahead early. And that would be a disaster for the Scuderia, where success is measured primarily in world championships, and they've been waiting for one since 2008.
If Melbourne serves as a benchmark, Hamilton and Ferrari are gearing up for a rough, exhausting first season together. If Melbourne's performance foreshadows the next 23 Grand Prix weekends, it could all too easily slide into the misfortunes of the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, who also arrived at Ferrari with high hopes—and left without fulfilling them.
- Ferrari's decision to let Lewis Hamilton continue racing in wet conditions during the Australian Grand Prix, contradicting the weather forecast, was a misjudgment that cost them a potential victory, as Hamilton ended the race in 10th place.
- The Chinese Grand Prix presents an opportunity for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari to set things right and put the disappointing debut performance behind them, but it comes with the added pressure of performing well against formidable competition.
- The Scuderia is already under the microscope, with Hamilton's poor performance and communication issues with racing engineer Riccardo Adami leaving room for criticism from both the Italian press and F1 experts such as Günther Steiner.
