Lewis Hamilton slumped to 10th place on his Ferrari debut at the F1 Australian GP amid a frustrating day, with Charles Leclerc not faring much better in 8th as the team led by Fred Vasseur had a grim start to the campaign.
The seven-time World Championship scored just a single point at Albert Park after starting in eighth place. He got stuck behind the unflappable Alex Albon and couldn’t pass him.
The British driver wasn’t completely in harmony with his engineer, Riccardo Adami. Hamilton often asked for less information to be conveyed over the radio.
However, the biggest problem on the day was the call to stay out on dry tyres. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc dropped down to P8 and P9, although the Monegasque driver had spun on lap 44 anyway.
Fred Vasseur on the strategy
Fred Vasseur said in his print media session that Ferrari had to deal with a difficult situation with the changeable conditions for Hamilton and Leclerc to manage.
The sheer volume of race caught them our on the pit wall. Seven-time World Champion Hamilton had briefly led the race before the Safety Car appeared.
“This is very difficult…we don’t have a sense of the rain. It is more of a feeling and what we can see on the screen and have on the radar from corner to corner.
“We were all surprised about the quantity of rain at this stage of the race. McLaren first, to stay on track with the slicks and just survive at the end it is easy to say it was the wrong call.”
Vasseur is adamant Ferrari have to work on their communication ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. The split-second decisions are vital over a race.
Vasseur admitted Ferrari made “the wrong call” in Australia
The rain fell in the closing stages of the race and caused complete havoc.
Rain kept making life difficult as both McLarens ran off the track. Ferrari pitted for intermediates too late at Albert Park in a costly move. Vasseur admitted the Scuderia should have pitted on the same lap as Max Verstappen, the 46th tour of the race.
“It was a kind of bet…we bet on the fact we have to stay on track and wait for the last part of the race with slicks.
“When Mercedes and McLaren pitted two laps before, we went at the wrong time, the best option was to pit on the same lap as Max [Verstappen] and we made the wrong call.”
