'Rome wasn't built in a day' – Hamilton backs Ferrari to respond to 'disastrous' start

Hamilton's first outing in the famous red livery did not go to plan, as he finished 10th after lining up in P8, two places back of team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari's SF-25 car did not come anywhere close to the pace of the McLaren or Red Bull offerings, with Lando Norris holding off Max Verstappen for victory in Melbourne.

But Hamilton will not get too downbeat about their chances, saying ahead of this week's Chinese Grand Prix: "It has only been one race.

"Of course, even for me, that's not the result that I was hoping for. In pure performance, to be where we were was not spectacular.

"I don't think the car is necessarily at that pace, we just didn't extract it all. And the race on Sunday was disastrous. It was painful for all of us.

"You can't let one race throw you off. You can't quit after one race or one loss. We come back fighting – that's what we do best.

"Coming here this weekend, we're optimistic, we've got our heads high, we've got to continue to push. We've got a good car and a good package.

"Rome wasn't built in one day, so we're just going to try to build on the foundations from testing.

"We learnt a huge amount last weekend, and it's about what we do with that loss, it's how we turn up weekend in, weekend out, with our heads high and continue to push.

"It's not how you fall, it's how you get back up."

No driver has more wins, more pole positions (both six), more fastest laps (four) or more podiums (nine) at the Chinese Grand Prix than Hamilton, who also holds the records for laps led (306) and points collected (213) at the event.

Last week, Hamilton made it 19 straight seasons with a points return in Formula One. Only Fernando Alonso (20) has scored points in more different years in F1 history.

The seven-time world champion also became the 70th different driver to score points for Ferrari, but more is expected of the team this week, and Leclerc is also remaining upbeat.

Asked how far away Ferrari are from their competitors, Leclerc said: "It's difficult to know because, I think now, every little difference can have a big influence on track, so I think the layout can have a big influence on whether you are fast or not.

"If you look at the last four to five races of last year, it was Mercedes dominating in Las Vegas, us in Mexico, McLaren very fast in Abu Dhabi, and that was basically the same car.

"At this stage of the season, you don't have any upgrades. I think there are many factors that come into play. We need to stay calm.