F1 News: Hamilton was thoroughly schooled in embarrassing Ferrari debut
(GMM) All the pre-season hype about Lewis Hamilton’s sensational move to Ferrari and world championship aspirations fizzled in Melbourne as Hamilton got schooled all race long.
Drivers’ and constructors’ championship leaders McLaren, however, are not celebrating just yet. “We haven’t really seen what Ferrari can do yet,” team boss Andrea Stella warned.
Indeed, it was a scrappy weekend for the Maranello based team, with boss Frederic Vasseur insisting multiple “mistakes” hid the true potential of the 2025 car.
Piastri schools old-man Hamilton on the last lap
Piastri ultrapassou mesmo Hamilton por fora na última volta
pic.twitter.com/8x9ioF5NoT
— B24 (@B24PT) March 16, 2025
But Hamilton spoke about having to adapt his driving style.
“I see this as a very dangerous sign,” former F1 driver Christian Danner told RTL. “Because no one has ever really managed to adapt their driving style.
“It could be a pretty tough season for Lewis.”
Early signs of trouble and tension between Hamilton and his new race engineer, following years with Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington at Mercedes, were also evident.
Peter Windsor branded Hamilton’s race ’embarrassing’ to watch because of one other defeat in the top five positions when speaking on his YouTube channel. Windsor branded it ’embarrassing’ that Hamilton failed to make it past the Williams driver, who was taking part in his 105th F1 race, considering Ferrari had the second-fastest car last season.
“We learned a lot from this weekend, because we made mistakes,” Vasseur admits. “We need to improve the communication and understand what Lewis needs in terms of communication.”
40-year-old Hamilton, however, sees a bigger problem.
“McLaren and Red Bull are incredibly fast,” said the Briton. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. In China, I’ll try to take a different approach to the setup.”
Related Article: F1 News: How long before Ferrari’s patience runs out with Hamilton?
Charles Leclerc schooled Hamilton with a pass around the outside late in the race, and with P8 finished two places ahead of Hamilton, commented: “If you look at the pace of the McLaren today, it was incredible. And even a lot faster than when they took pole.”
Former F1 driver Timo Glock said on Sky Deutschland: “Of the top teams, Ferrari was the clear flop in Australia.”
However, even Mercedes is already considering a strategic early shift of resources from the 2025 car to the all-new project for 2026 – effectively giving up on winning this year’s championship.
“I would like to be a bit closer to Red Bull and McLaren, but this is the reality,” said team boss Toto Wolff.
“Now we need a few more races to see if we can get close and if it is worth putting our resources into this car. But it’s just the first weekend, so we’ll find out.”