Hamilton starts again from P4
In the weeks leading up to the Australian GP, Lewis Hamilton he showed optimism and confidence in Ferrari and its form. The seven-time world champion appeared regenerated by the holidays, after 2025 ended in a lackluster manner. And in Melbourne, indeed, we saw a very motivated Sir Lewis, much closer to Charles Leclerc: only six tenths – practically a lap considering the pace of the two Ferrari drivers – prevented him from reaching his first podium in Ferrari.
Hamilton was making his debut with the new race engineer Carlo Saints. After a year of difficult collaboration with Riccardo Adami, the Englishman seemed much calmer on the radio (but it’s only the first race, it’s still very early to make judgements). The Veronese encouraged him several times in the last stint, in which Hamilton was the fastest on the track. Having reached the checkered flag, Santi made another comment that will motivate Hamilton ahead of China: the 15″ from George Russell is due to the missed pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car.
The radio team
Saints: “Fantastic race, very solid, the second stint was very fast. Russell P1, Antonelli P2, Charles P3 and we are P4“.
Hamilton: “Great work guys, really great work, I’m really proud of all the work you’ve done. Thanks to everyone who remained at the factory. Solid result, solid points. Let’s keep pushing“.
Saints: “Thanks, Lewis“.
Hamilton: “P7 to P4 is good. How far ahead were they?“.
Saints: “15 seconds. Basically, it’s due to that pit stop“.
Hamilton: “Yes. We need to improve on this, man“.
Saints: “In the last stint you were by far the fastest. And in the first one you got stuck behind Charles“.
It should be underlined that in the post-race statements the team principal Frederic Vasseur he stated that the missed pit stop with VSC due to Isack Hadjar’s engine failure did not change the direction of the GP. The suspicion remains strong that Mercedes had a lot more pace to exploit, and that they would have finished ahead of Ferrari in any case.
