MELBOURNE, Australia — Lewis Hamilton is confident Ferrari are “right in the fight” with Mercedes this year despite his former team’s dominant weekend at the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton finished fourth, right behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, while Mercedes completed a one-two finish, having locked out the front row of the grid on Saturday.
Ferrari had made Mercedes work for it early on, with Leclerc and Hamilton’s lightning starts off the line seeing them run first and third either side of eventual race winner George Russell for the first stint of the race.
“The team did a great job overall,” Hamilton said.
“There are lots of positives to take. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I know we can be fighting for podiums. We’re not as fast as Mercedes but we’re right in the fight. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch them but it’s not impossible.”
Ferrari appeared to miss an opportunity to turn the screws strategically on Mercedes when they opted not to pit for an early virtual safety car period, while Russell and Kimi Antonelli both did.
Strategy has long been seen as an Achilles Heel of the Ferrari team and Hamilton said a review will be needed to see if a different call could have been made.
“I feel great,” he said of his mood. “We got a third and fourth and ultimately Mercedes were quicker than us.
“We need to see if stopping would have been better. I definitely thought we should have come in or, at least one of us, to cover the Mercedes. We will look to see what we can do better.”
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Hamilton was also one of the few drivers to give the new rules set a ringing endorsement after the first race.
F1’s move towards a 50-50 split of internal combustion and electrification has placed a huge emphasis on battery management and energy saving, which is already massively unpopular with its drivers.
Hamilton, who was known to hate the so-called ground effect cars F1 had between 2022 and 2025, was glowing with praise on Sunday evening.
“I personally loved it. I thought the race was really fun to drive. I thought the car was really, really fun to drive.
“I watched the cars ahead, there was a good back and forth. So, yeah. So far, so good.”
