Ferrari's Hamilton faces learning curve: Challenging debut qualifying in Melbourne
Lewis Hamilton’s debut Qualifying session with Ferrari in Melbourne proved to be a challenging affair that required immense effort just to break into the top 10. Despite Ferrari's promising performance during practice, qualifying told a different story, as Ferrari's top drivers found themselves behind rivals from Racing Bulls and Williams.
Charles Leclerc had led the second practice session, raising hopes for Ferrari's performance, but the team struggled during Qualifying. Leclerc ended up seventh and Hamilton, who experienced a Q2 spin, finished in eighth place. Leclerc was almost seven-tenths of a second off Lando Norris' pole position time, with Hamilton another 0.218 seconds behind.
"It's been challenging; it doesn't feel natural," Hamilton admitted post-Qualifying. "The normal set-up changes you make, it’s difficult to say too much, but there are all these new tools that I'm still trying to get my head around and understand exactly how they impact the car."
Hamilton, still adjusting to his new Ferrari surroundings, remained optimistic about mastering the car despite the struggle. "I feel good that I got pretty much everything from the car in the end. I think there’s probably still a couple of tenths left," he noted. "I definitely didn’t expect us to be as far off as we were, but to be that close to Charles in the end in my first Qualifying session… I really am still learning this car."
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Hamilton highlighted the painstaking process of fine-tuning the car throughout the weekend. "I've been chipping away at it all weekend and fine-tuning it, finding new tools that we didn’t get to test before. I think we’ve done a good job," he added.
The competitive field at Albert Park left little room for error, a point underscored by Leclerc's own recount of his Qualifying laps. "The first lap was pretty good. The second lap wasn’t as good – it felt messy. All in all, we just didn’t quite have the pace," Leclerc admitted.
Leclerc struggled with the car's instability and made some errors while attempting to extract more speed. "The rear was quite unstable, so we struggled quite a bit, which is a shame. Before coming here, we were definitely expecting to be on the back foot but after Friday, we thought maybe there was a bit more pace in the car. In the end, it wasn’t the case," Leclerc concluded.
As the 2025 Formula 1 season progresses, both Hamilton and Leclerc will need to address the challenges they face to maximize the potential of their Ferraris and compete at the highest level.
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