Lewis Hamilton was around half a second off the pace of new teammate Charles Leclerc, during his first two practice sessions as a Ferrari driver.
However, Sky Sports F1 reporter Craig Slater believes that Hamilton is ‘getting closer to Leclerc’, and is building his confidence through the sessions, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The seven time world champion was six tenths off the Monégasque driver in Free Practice 1, finding himself down in P12 on the timesheets, but closed the gap to just four tenths in Free Practice 2.
Hamilton finished the second session in P5, behind Leclerc, who topped the timings, as well as Yuki Tsunoda and both McLaren drivers.
The 40-year-old recently labelled winning as his No.1 priority, and will be hoping for a successful start to his Ferrari career in Melbourne, as he continues his quest for a historic eighth World Championship.
Hamilton ‘finding his feet’ in red
After 12 years at Mercedes, it was always going to be a challenge for Hamilton to jump straight into the Ferrari and match Leclerc’s lightning quick pace immediately.
However, Slater thinks the Brit is shaping up well after the two practice sessions on Friday, he said: “I think it was a pretty solid start for Lewis Hamilton.
“First practice today he was slowly finding his feet, did complain once or twice about the car’s turn-in propensity, a little bit of understeer, potentially.
“We will see the best of him, I guess, in qualifying tomorrow, in terms of outright pace and producing the right level of performance.
“He knows what he’s doing, Lewis Hamilton, he is slowly building confidence with the car, probably fine-tuning the setup as well.”
Tomorrow, Hamilton will get one final practice session to bed himself into the SF25, before the shackles are withdrawn for the opening qualifying session of the season.
The former Mercedes man has taken pole in six of the last nine iterations of the Australian GP, but has not won in Melbourne since 2015.
Leclerc ‘might take a few rounds’ to catch
Many Formula 1 fans believe that, bar Max Verstappen, Leclerc is currently the quickest driver on the grid.
The 27-year-old finished 3rd in the Drivers’ Standings in 2024, 66 points clear of Carlos Sainz, who left Ferrari at the end of last year.
Although Hamilton is closing the gap to Leclerc, Slater believes it may take the Brit a couple of races to reach the level of his teammate.
“I think the important thing from Hamilton’s perspective is that it’s moving in the right direction, he’s getting closer to Charles Leclerc,” said Slater.
“It might take him a few rounds of this year’s championship to get right up there with Leclerc, who we know, is maybe the best qualifier in F1 right now.”
