Lewis Hamilton recounts on tough Ferrari debut

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, admitted his Ferrari was “really, really hard to drive” in wet conditions as he endured a challenging start to his new career.

The 40-year-old, who made a sensational switch from Mercedes to Ferrari, is hoping for a fresh start, but his transition has been far from smooth.

His struggles culminated in a disappointing 10th-place finish at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where he trailed McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes while also finishing behind teammate Charles Leclerc in a rain-affected race.

“It was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go. The car was really, really hard to drive today,” Hamilton admitted after a race filled with crashes due to treacherous conditions.

“For me, I’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.”

The race marked Hamilton’s first time driving a Ferrari in wet conditions, adding to his steep learning curve.

At one point, he voiced frustration over team strategy, telling his race engineer they had “missed a big opportunity” during pit stops under the safety car. A delayed switch back to intermediate rain tyres saw him slip down the order.

Despite the tough outing, Hamilton remained optimistic, saying he learned a lot from his debut.

“Just getting acclimatized with the new power unit in the wet conditions. The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel,” he explained.

“I hung out as long as I could and got in the lead at one point. Just the guidance with how much more rain was coming was missing there, so I think we missed out.”