Lewis Hamilton is not giving up on his hopes of securing pole position on his Ferrari debut at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Afrosport reports.
The 40-year-old British driver finished the two Friday practice sessions in Melbourne in 12th and fifth respectively while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets.
While Hamilton acknowledged it is too early to say where his car is, he is hoping he can put a strong performance in Saturday’s qualifying session.
“For me, I think it’s a little bit early as I just continue to get to learn the car, but never say never. I’ll still give it everything I’ve got tomorrow,” the seven-time world champion said per the F1 website.
“I’m just not putting too much pressure on. I’m going to try to enjoy it. I’ve got some pace to find. I know where to find it. It’s just about going out there and doing it and just building.”
Reflecting on his performance in Friday practice, the former Mercedes said: “P1 was a little bit messy. P2 was definitely starting to look a little bit better.
“Also, I’m still getting used to all of the setup changes. I don’t have them on call like I used to have with Mercedes.
“Where I’d been there so long, I knew exactly all the setup changes, so I’m still working through understanding what tools we can use, and it’s interesting you can see with Charles, he just knows because he’s been here for such a long time.”
A good first day in the books ✅ pic.twitter.com/uUmLZJxYZt
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 14, 2025
Meanwhile, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is confident Hamilton will prove doubters wrong and perform soon.
“The target is to for him to know everybody into the team, to discover the software, the process, the system,” he said. “I’m really 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.
“It’s just a learning process. We did one or two test days with the TPC one month or two months ago. It was a good way to approach it, but nothing compared to the race weekend. You know that means that we have to go through and we have to do it. I’m not worried at all about this.
“You can’t draw a conclusion after the first session. I have absolutely no doubt he will be able to perform and perform soon. Last year, I think Carlos was P8 or P9 in free practice, and he won the race.”
Hamilton is a two-time winner at the Australian Gran Prix, winning the 2008 and 2015 editions with McLaren and Mercedes.
