Against the Current Situation | Has the Hamilton champion been rediscovered?

Has Stevenage’s lost son returned?

He was seventh in qualifying, almost a second from pole position and a decade and a half clear of Leclerc (fourth). A character who had a swerving start like Leclerc, but was still in fourth place under the checkered flag; He came in his teammate’s slipstream after gaining nearly seven seconds back in the final stage of the race.
In a very short summary, Lewis Hamilton’s This is a result he made at the Australian Grand Prix. It was certainly a more convincing and solid performance than those Lewis has unfortunately become accustomed to during the difficult 2025 season. Today, more than ever, it is clear that the previous generation of ground effect cars were an ugly beast for Lewis, but Is his good performance in Melbourne enough to kill the fat calf and explain the return of the missing Hamilton?

The answer is seven-time world champion and 105 GP wins, 202 podiums and 104 pole positions It depends on their perspective and expectations towards this player. Hamilton clearly in the race second One Ferrari he rode and had a good margin over his rivals in terms of race pace and sprint. He finished fourth; in retrospect this was the lowest rating achievable with the SF-26 Sunday in Melbourne. Although Lewis came very close to Leclerc in the final stages, he did not look like he could attack him and the #44 declared that he would pass him if the race continued for two more laps. It might have happened, but it didn’t. The long-awaited first podium with Ferrari, let’s not talk about the victory, we have to put aside the Chinese Sprint for this, is yet to come. This time, his teammate took third place; Kiki is still one of the three or four strongest and fastest drivers on the starting grid and a potential world champion, but Lewis definitely wants to beat him, at least for the palmares he has.

Political integration with the team does not appear to have improved

In terms of integration with the team, it does not appear from his statements that he has made great strides, he still remains in the guise of a kind of “external consultant” to the team. Commenting on the difference with Mercedes on Saturday He began: “If it was a matter of compression ratio I would be disappointed that the FIA ​​would allow it. It’s not in the rules and I will pressure my team to do the same so we can be stronger.” Beyond the naivety of the request, his words seem to imply that Ferrari does not want to take action on this issue and should be encouraged. It’s truly incredible, to put it mildly. He also reiterated the fact that a tire change under the first VSC can lead to a better result, both during the race and at the end of the race. “At the end of the GP our tires were definitely good and we could have stopped earlier. It would be a free pit stop. I think we should have made the pit stop with VSC first.” These are his words. However, this position is not shared by Ferrari.

Why can we celebrate Hamilton’s return to the top of the standings and a driver finally integrated into the team? The situation looks better compared to last year, but Lewis Hamilton in the “hammertime” era, his integration with Mercedes and his repeated records For those considering, without mentioning the return of the rediscovered seven-time champion It is reasonable to expect outcomes and behaviors to be even superior first.