Following a hard-fought fourth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is radiating positivity. Despite missing out on the podium, the seven-time world champion is brimming with confidence about his Ferrari’s trajectory and their impending battle against a very familiar foe: Mercedes.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Hamilton brushed off any feelings of disappointment or lingering what ifs regarding the weekend’s result and a potentially poor choice of not being pitted under the safety car.
“No. I have to go back and have a look but I’m generally really proud of the team,” Hamilton stated before turning his focus to his former team and its 1-2 finish.
“They have done an amazing job to get the car to where it is. Of course, we are not as fast at Mercedes and we have work to do but we are right in the fight,” he continued.
The Briton’s pace in Melbourne was a standout moment of the opening race of the season, allowing him to carve through the field and push right up to the gearbox of his teammate by the checkered flag after an exciting fight at the beginning of the race.
“It was a really fun race and it felt good,” he explained. “A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I had great pace. Lots of positives to take from today.”
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The commanding Sunday performance was a welcome turnaround after a frustrating Saturday session – and beyond that, a highly disappointing 2025, his first season with the Scuderia.
“All weekend I’ve been really strong. Qualifying didn’t show the true pace,” he said. “We had a few problems through qualifying which meant I was further back than I should have been.”
Heading into the grand prix, expectations were mild, but the Italian machinery delivered as soon as the lights went out.
“We went into today and none of us really knew what the true pace would be but I felt great from the get-go,” he said.
Lewis Hamilton Believes Ferrari Can Catch Mercedes
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the Ferrari driver is under no illusions on how difficult it will be to compete with the exquisite Mercedes cars and its talented drivers.
“There’s lots of positives but we have a lot of work to do to catch Mercedes but it’s not impossible. I believe we can close the gap. It’s not going to be easy, it’s got a lot of work to do because it’s quite significant, particularly on a single lap.”
To mount a true championship offensive, work is going to need to get done in the Ferrari garage. But as McLaren confirmed only a few years ago, a team can jump from the very back of the grid to the front if they get something right. So for Ferrari, right now looking like the second-fastest car on the grid right now, there is plenty of potential.
“We need to find out whether it’s power, or battery power, but the cars are just as quick through the corners so we need to keep pushing,” Hamilton concluded.
