Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was unaware of “how tough” it would be to adapt to driving for Ferrari amid his difficult start to the Formula 1 season.
The seven-time F1 champion has not enjoyed a happy start to life at Ferrari, currently lying seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, his highlight being victory in the China Sprint.
Hamilton has struggled with finding a balance on the tricky SF-25 car, which is leaving both him and team-mate Charles Leclerc floundering in the wake of runaway leaders McLaren.
As well as that, Hamilton has found it tricky to keep up with Leclerc, who is two places and 12 points ahead of his new stablemate at the Maranello-based squad.
Ahead of this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton has been frank about the struggles he is facing being part of a brand-new team and environment.
“I anticipated it would be very tough, because I’ve joined a team before,” he said.
“I came in with a really open mind. I didn’t know how tough it was going to be. I knew it was going to be challenging. It’s as challenging as it could ever be on all fronts.”
Whilst realistic about the team’s chances of clawing back the deficit to McLaren, Hamilton intimated he isn’t shying away from the challenge.
“Championship? There’s still a long, long way to go,” he said. “From all the years of experience, when you’re over 100 points behind at this point in the season, with a car that’s up against a car that’s quite dominant, you have to assume that you’re not necessarily fighting for the win in the championship.
“But things could turn around. We’ve never seen that happen.”
Things that can play into Ferrari’s favour are the introduction of new stringent rules on flexi-wings from Spain onwards, as well as new planned upgrades.
Hamilton refused to be drawn on how much it can better its performance issues, but cited its tyre wear and its currently tricky floor as areas it can improve.
“At the moment, I can’t tell you whether we’re going to gain full tenths, half a second, a second by the end of the season,” he admitted.
“We want to get closer to those things. And as I said, at the moment, we can’t shut the door to any idea.
“We have to keep our eyes and our heads up. We have to stay vigilant. We have to push with the expectation and the goal of winning.
“That’s still the goal of each weekend. Right now, when I’m sitting with the engineers, it’s how are we going to win this weekend.
“If we can extract a little bit more from the tyres, if we can extract a little bit more from the floor, if every single one of us is able to pull out half a tenth each. Then, maybe we can just get there.”
Hamilton ‘excited’ by first race in front of Tifosi
Despite his current woes, Lewis Hamilton is buoyed by the prospect of driving one of the famous red Ferrari cars before a passionate crowd of the team’s Tifosi.
Hamilton said that whilst he stirred up by his first Italian race as a Ferrari driver, he is not approaching the race in any manner different to usual.
“I haven’t prepared any differently. I’ve prepared the same,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week,
“I was at the factory for two days, on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don’t know what to expect.
“Obviously, I’ve been here all these years. I’ve seen the Tifosi. I’ve been on stage just after the Ferrari drivers. We’ve seen all these different places we’ve been going.
“The amazing support. Even just at the factory, when you’re walking around the factory, there’s people at the gate every day. It’s pretty incredible, the support this team has.
“And there’s just a lot of high hope and a lot of expectation. But that comes with greatness.
“You’ve got a great team. That’s what people expect. But I don’t approach it any differently. I want to get good points.
“Naturally, I want to get good points every weekend. But I’m definitely excited to see more red!”
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