Hamilton and Leclerc urge Ferrari to “dig deep” after disappointing race in Melbourne

Charles Leclerc and his new team-mate Lewis Hamilton have urged Ferrari to “dig deep” and improve their SF- 25 after a very disappointing opening race in Melbourne.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton almost made contact at the first corner after the start, but the Briton made a brilliant correction to avoid an early contact.

The Monegasque was able to make up two places on the first corner to jump from P7 to P5, while the Briton found himself stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon in the first part of the race.

When the rain came back in the closing stages of the race, Ferrari left the drivers one lap too late out on track which meant that Leclerc and Hamilton dropped down the order to P9 and P10. In the end, the Monegasque gained a spot to finish eighth, but Hamilton finished in the last point-scoring place in his debut race with Ferrari.

"It was a tough race and there are things we have to review and work on. We weren’t the fastest out there but in such weather conditions, there was a chance of scoring some big points which we didn’t capitalize on today.

"I lost a few positions after the spin at turn 11. In the end, it wasn’t that bad, with the Safety Car that came out later on, but then we stopped a lap too late to switch to Inters, losing positions again.

“There are two things we have to look into. The first is easy, it was my mistake. The second is something we will sort out as a team, looking into our decisions and making sure we make the right call if the situation comes up again.

"It’s a continuous process of improvement. We are disappointed but it’s good to know we’ll be back in the car in just a few days in China to give it another go."

On the back of his debut race with Ferrari, Hamilton conceded that the Melbourne race was "not the start we wanted but there’s lots to take away and work on from this one. The start was okay, but I lost momentum out of T1 on the outside of Charles and got stuck behind Albon for most of the race.

"The rain always mixes things up and strategy comes down to timing and a bit of luck. We took a gamble and made up places, but then boxing too late for Inters cost us, dropping us to the back of the top 10 with too much ground to recover.

"I struggled with the balance, but it was an important race for learning more about the car and in different weather conditions, as well as gaining more experience working with a new team. McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace, so there’s work to do, but we’ll dig deep. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car next weekend in China," concluded the seven-time world champion.