Lewis Hamilton complained over the radio that he was ‘struggling’ with his Ferrari car during first practice at the Australian Grand Prix as he ended the session down in 12th place
Frederic Vasseur said he has “absolutely no doubt” that Lewis Hamilton will “perform soon” after the Brit’s underwhelming first official session in a Ferrari.
More than a year on from the announcement that he would join Ferrari and after two-months of hype and build-up over the winter, Hamilton finally makes his Formula 1 debut for the Italian team at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
It was hardly an eye-catching start on Friday, though, as the 40-year-old ended FP1 down in 12th place on the timesheets. During that session, he reported over the radio that he was “struggling” with his new car.
But Ferrari team principal Vasseur is not at all concerned. Speaking in a press conference held between the two practice sessions of the day, the Frenchman made it clear he was not looking for his new driver to produce anything special in just his first session.
“He’s on this process, honestly, you can’t draw a conclusion after a first session,” said Vasseur. “I have absolutely no doubt that he will be able to perform and to perform soon. Last year I think that Carlos [Sainz] was P8 or P9 in free practice and he won the race.
“It’s not [the goal] to be at the limit on one session, it’s not a matter of speed. The target is for him to know everybody in the team, to discover the software, the process, the system. I’m convinced that we have something very similar to Mercedes, but at the end of the day, perhaps not with the same name, or the same way to use them.
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“It’s just a learning process. We did one or two test days with the TPC one or two months ago. It was a good way to approach it but nothing compares to the race weekend. We have to go through and we have to do it, but I’m not worried at all about this.”
Hamilton fared better in the second session of the day, ending FP2 up in fifth place. However, he was still more than four-tenths of a second slower than team-mate Charles Leclerc who ended the day with the fastest overall time.
Speaking on Thursday, Hamilton made it clear he still has a lot to learn about how to get the best out of Ferrari machinery. He said: “Joining a new team, the sooner you can reach a high level and get results, the better. But inevitably, there’s a transition period and there’s a foundation that’s needed to be built.
“That’s what we have been doing over the past couple of months… For me, the goal is to win, of course, and to take the team forward. I’ve had some not-so-spectacular years and I’m trying to see if I can have a better year than I have the last three. There are a lot of factors that can add to that.”
