Ferrari debut 'went a lot worse' than expected, concedes Hamilton

Hamilton led the race briefly at the Albert Park Circuit, but an incorrect strategy call as rain hit late in the race led to him dropping the field to claim a solitary point.

The seven-time world champion and team-mate Charles Leclerc stayed out on the slick tyres a little longer, a decision that proved to be costly for the Scuderia on Sunday.

And Hamilton, who qualified eighth for the race, was left frustrated at a missed opportunity as Ferrari pushed their strategy gamble too far.

"It was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "The car was really, really hard to drive today.

"For me, I'm just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that's where it wanted to go most of the time.

"A lot to take from it and just getting acclimatised with the new power unit in the wet conditions.

"The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel."

Keeping our heads down and ready to push forward as a team pic.twitter.com/HK9NVfRozF

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 16, 2025

Hamilton added that the team left it too late to stop for treaded tyres when the rain came with 13 laps to go, with much of the field immediately switching once the rain began.

Most of the front-runners pitted, including eventual race winner Lando Norris, but Hamilton, who had just gone past Leclerc after he had spun, stayed out.

Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda and Leclerc also continued behind him, and the decision to initially stay out appeared to have improved his podium prospects.

But with the rain getting heavier, Ferrari failed to follow in the footsteps of Red Bull, who pitted Verstappen two laps after Norris, who maintained his position behind the leader.

"The last sector [of the lap], everyone was going off, but I was managing to hold on, so I was just passing people, and once we got to the start line, it was dry," Hamilton said.

"So I was like: 'This is fine for me, I've just got to hold this out, I've only got a few laps to go.'

"But then it pelted down just in the last two laps or something, it was coming down, and that's the moment we probably should have come in.

"In that moment, I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm third'. I was leading for a second. But I mean, yeah, I don't know if we have anywhere near the pace as the McLarens had today.

"But I do think in the actual car, there is a lot more performance. I just don't think we unlocked it this week."

A thrilling race but it doesn’t end in our favour 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/aLGrdysRv3

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 16, 2025

The lack of clarity over the incoming weather was part of a wider struggle Hamilton endured communicating with his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami.

Hamilton repeatedly asked Adami to "leave him to it", as the Italian attempted to provide him with information that would help his quest to pass Alex Albon early on.

Despite his clear frustration at times during the race, Hamilton praised Adami after the race.

"I think Riccardo did a really good job. We're learning about each other bit by bit," Hamilton told reporters.

"After this, we'll download, we'll go through all the comments - things I said and vice versa.