Lewis Hamilton made his long-awaited debut for Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix, a moment more than a year in the making.

But, when it arrived, Hamilton left nine-time F1 podium finisher turned pundit Martin Brundle underwhelmed, as he also called out Hamilton’s “angsty” attitude towards his new race engineer Riccardo Adami.

Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari: A ‘disappointing’ debut?

Having agreed his multi-year deal with Ferrari before his final season with Mercedes in 2024 had even began, Hamilton headed for Maranello with doubters to silence after losing out to then team-mate George Russell in the 2024 race and qualifying head-to-heads, his one-lap pace a particular concern.

Brundle though does not think Hamilton did anywhere near enough to satisfy on his big Ferrari debut.

Qualifying P8 and two-tenths slower than new team-mate Charles Leclerc, that became a P10 finish for the seven-time World Champion on Grand Prix Sunday, as the rain made its mark at Albert Park.

“Despite lots of happy words, and reasons why he had to learn his steering wheel and other new aspects, Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing start to his Ferrari career by any metric,” Brundle stated in his Sky Sports column.

“Eighth on the grid behind his team-mate Leclerc, losing out a little in the first corner and following Alex Albon’s Williams for what seemed like an age, and then being passed around the outside of the fast Turn 9 by a spectacularly recovering [Oscar] Piastri on the final lap – consigning Lewis to one point in 10th place – was not where he should be.”

However, it was not just Hamilton’s pace which had Brundle disappointed.

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At various stages in the race, Hamilton could be heard getting rather abrupt with Riccardo Adami – his new race engineer at Ferrari – leaving work to do between the pair as they build their Ferrari relationship.

“I don’t understand why Lewis was so angsty with his engineer Riccardo Adami,” Brundle continued, “who I felt was simply trying to pass over relevant and helpful information.”

A late heavy downpour at Albert Park opened the door for opportunity with strategy, but Ferrari’s gamble to stay out did not pay off, as Leclerc and Hamilton pitted behind the Safety Car deployed after crashes for Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto.

From P2 and P3, it was down to P9 and P10 for Hamilton and Leclerc respectively, Leclerc quickly overtaking his team-mate after the restart.

“It all really fell apart for Ferrari when they rolled the dice on dry tyres on a wet track and lost out heavily on track position for both drivers,” Brundle stated, and they left Australia seventh in the championship.”

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