'Nice to be back up there' - Lewis Hamilton 'positive' ahead of Australian GP after nightmare start to season
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Updated 09/04/2022 at 12:18 GMT
After plenty of early-season turmoil, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton enjoyed much better fortunes at the Australian Grand Prix after qualifying fifth at Albert Park. Within one second of the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, he admits there is cause for optimism as the Silver Arrows continue to address the porpoising issues that have blighted them in the opening two races of the season.
'We stayed calm at every moment' - Leclerc on claiming pole in Melbourne
Lewis Hamilton believes there is cause to be optimistic at Mercedes after a vastly-improved showing saw the Brit qualify fifth at the Australian Grand Prix.
After a difficult start to the season, it looked like the Silver Arrows’ struggles would continue in Melbourne following first and second practice yesterday, with both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell cut well adrift of the Ferrari and Red Bull cars.
However, on a new-look Albert Park circuit making its return to the F1 calendar after a two-year absence, the seven-time world champion was able to qualify in a respectable fifth, one place ahead of team-mate George Russell and within a second of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.
It means that Sunday’s race will be the first time this season that both Mercedes cars have started inside the top six on the grid as the team continues to wrestle with the porpoising issues that have been responsible for much of their early-season woes.
Porpoising is an aerodynamic issue caused by a sudden increase and then decrease in downforce, which leads to F1 cars bouncing up and down at high speeds.
It was a problem that blighted most teams during pre-season testing in Bahrain, but while many have found ways to counteract the issue, Mercedes have continued to see the phenomenon lead to a reduction in performance, leaving them adrift of their two biggest rivals.
It even led Russell to admit in the lead-up to this weekend’s racing that being fixated with correcting the issue has meant his team were unable “to focus on other things”.
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'Nothing new makes a difference on the car' - Hamilton as difficulties continue
However, asked whether Saturday’s qualifying result was a big win, Hamilton was emphatic in his response.
“Compared to yesterday, yeah,” he said. “And also compared to the last race. It’s nice to be back up there.
“Jeddah was really, really tough, to be so far back and not really be able to make a lot of progress. And then yesterday was a difficult day; we had a bigger deficit and we worked hard through the night.
“Everyone back at the factory was working hard to try and figure out where we can go with the setup, and I think we’ve extracted the most from the car today.
“With my lap, I feel like there was a little bit more in the car, so that’s a positive.
"I’m naturally also gutted that I wasn’t able to extract that little bit [extra], but when you push the car more, she’s quite spiteful. She’s like a viper or a rattlesnake, you never know!”
Grid slot number five is a marked improvement for Hamilton, who suffered a shock Q1 exit at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
A 10th-placed finish in Jeddah, coupled with Russell coming home in fifth, prompted team principal Toto Wolff to criticise the nature of Mercedes’ start to the 2022 season.
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Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Getty Images
“It’s certainly totally unacceptable where we are in performance,” he said. “We are third on the road and sometimes not even [that]. It’s just not an option to stay where we are.”
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s race, Hamilton admitted that any data that could be gathered mid-race by him and his team-mate would benefit the eight-time constructors’ champions in the long run this season.
“Basically, we just have to try and find a level of the bouncing, as hardcore as we can go without rattling our brains out of our skulls,” he said.
“He [George Russell] and I have slightly different cars because we’re trying all the different things.
“Hopefully it will enable the team to get more information from the race tomorrow, and I hope from that we can start to make some progress.”
Tomorrow’s race will commence at 06:00 UK time, with Leclerc starting at the front of the grid after securing Ferrari’s first pole position in Australia since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
Speaking after qualifying, Leclerc said he was relieved to come out on top, at a track that he traditionally struggles with.
“In Q3, I managed to put everything together so it feels great. I’m very happy to be starting on pole tomorrow,” he said.
“The car is very nice to drive, but Red Bull were very quick in FP2 during the long-fuel run.
“Everything is possible tomorrow. We just need to make a good start and hopefully we can keep that first position.”
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