Lewis Hamilton started the season nonetheless studying easy methods to get one of the best from Pirelli’s 2025-specification tyres due to disruptions to his pre-season testing programme.
The Ferrari driver mentioned his victory within the 19-lap dash occasion on the second spherical of the season in Shanghai was the primary time he had accomplished a typical race stint on the brand new compounds.
“I used to be reflecting after the final two races, I didn’t get to do the Abu Dhabi check as a result of I used to be clearly nonetheless with Mercedes,” he instructed the official F1 channel. “All the opposite drivers received to check the 2025 tyres.
“Then once I got here to do my Bahrain check and do my future I didn’t even get to it as a result of [the car] broke down. So my first future within the dry, 20 laps, was really the dash race, [and] I’m fairly pleased with how I handled these tyres.”
Following that success, Ferrari’s tempo within the grand prix proved a disappointment. “The subsequent day we made some adjustments to the automobile and it wasn’t the proper route and made it tough by means of qualifying after which significantly within the race,” Hamilton defined. “However there’s tons and plenty of learnings to take from these two weeks and I really feel that’s actually helped put together us higher for transferring forwards.”
Though Hamilton additionally carried out working in Ferrari’s earlier vehicles earlier than the season started, he lacked expertise in moist situations previous to the primary spherical in Melbourne. “I’ve simply been highlighting to the blokes that my first time driving within the rain was the primary race on the Sunday,” he added.
He mentioned managing the tyre temperatures shall be particularly important over a lap of Suzuka this weekend. “Getting the tyres within the window could be a problem,” he mentioned.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“I feel having them in sync – so you possibly can have the rears within the window and the fronts not within the window or you possibly can have the fronts not within the window – you need to enter the primary nook with the rears barely beneath after which by means of the nook they will come up.
“For those who begin with too scorching temperatures then [the] third sector typically is a matter. Begin too chilly, you could have instabilities and lose an excessive amount of in sector one. You would possibly acquire some again within the subsequent two, however looking for the steadiness between that may be a actual problem.”
Following his blended outcomes over the opening rounds, Hamilton mentioned he “doesn’t know what to anticipate when it comes to how the automobile will really feel essentially,” at Suzuka.
“However I really feel optimistic. Clearly I’ve received two races behind me now and skilled the tyres, for instance the C2 tyre that we had within the final race I hadn’t really pushed that earlier than, so I lastly received a race with that below my belt.”
The crew’s issues had been compounded in China when Hamilton and crew mate Charles Leclerc had been disqualified as their vehicles failed technical inspections. Hamilton mentioned he’s assured the crew will keep away from a repeat sooner or later.
“I used to be on the manufacturing facility with the crew through the week and I’m actually impressed with how the crew digested and labored by means of the evaluation and determining methods of working higher, transferring forwards,” he mentioned. “[There’s] higher processes and simply hopefully [we’ll] make it possible for doesn’t occur once more.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a day by day e-mail with all our newest tales – and nothing else. No advertising and marketing, no adverts. Enroll right here:
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
