Lewis Hamilton ended his first day in Ferrari grand prix action four tenths down on Charles Leclerc in Melbourne.

However, while this should be “taken with a little bit of a pinch of salt”, according to Sky F1 correspondent Craig Slater, he also believes that it could well take Hamilton “a few races” to fully get up to speed.

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There was a huge amount of attention on Hamilton’s side of the Ferrari garage on Friday in Melbourne, as he took part in his first F1 2025 sessions as a Ferrari driver.

FP1 produced a P12 finish and six-tenths deficit to Leclerc, that improving to P5 and four-tenths off by the end of FP2, as Leclerc topped the session from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

That deficit to Leclerc remained a sizeable one though, with Hamilton’s one-lap performance particularly under the spotlight going into F1 2025 after a 19-5 defeat to then team-mate George Russell last season, Hamilton at one point claiming “I’m definitely not fast anymore”.

However, Slater does not believe there is cause for concern after Friday in Melbourne.

“I think it was a pretty solid start for Lewis Hamilton,” he claimed.

“Lewis Hamilton has ended the day fifth-quickest on the timesheets.

“He had his dad with him today, and it was another sort of milestone moment I suppose for him in red, for the first time, at an actual grand prix session.

“First practice today he was slowly finding his feet, did complain once or twice about the car’s turn-in propensity, a little bit of understeer, potentially, he was highlighting.

“He was six-tenths down on his team-mate Charles Leclerc in that first practice session, narrowed that to four-tenths in the second session.

“He knows what he’s doing, Lewis Hamilton. He is slowly building confidence with the car, probably fine-tuning the setup as well.

“And we will see the best of him, I guess, in qualifying tomorrow, in terms of outright pace and producing the right level of performance.

“So, these times you have to take with a little bit of a pinch of salt. I think the important thing from Hamilton’s perspective is that it’s moving in the right direction. He’s getting closer to Charles Leclerc.

“But it might take him a few rounds of this year’s championship to get right up there with Leclerc, who we know, is maybe the best qualifier in F1 right now.”

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Hamilton felt the progress being made between FP1 and FP2, though admitted he needs to adapt his “driving style” to acclimatise to this Ferrari challenger.

“Super-exciting build-up to this week and it felt amazing to get out there and be in a Ferrari here,” Hamilton reflected.

“Honestly, the car felt so much different to what I’ve ever experienced coming to this track, so it took a little bit of bedding in through [F]P1.

“P2 was definitely a little better, just building, but yeah, we’re slowly building and getting a little bit faster bit by bit.

“The car doesn’t feel bad or anything, it just requires a different way of driving it, so adjusting my driving style bit by bit, but enjoying driving.”

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