Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said it is a mix of “yes and no” on the idea of seeing a change in Lewis Hamilton as he gets more comfortable with his new team.

Hamilton is now two race weekends into his fresh F1 career chapter with Ferrari, one which has already produced the highlight of an impressive Sprint victory in China, but also underwhelming Australian and Chinese Grand Prix pace.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari adaptation: ‘Not a drama’

After a low-key debut in Melbourne with Ferrari, Hamilton turned heads with his Sprint pole and victory at the Shanghai International Circuit, leading from lights to chequered flag. But, while Hamilton maintained his one-lap pace edge over team-mate Charles Leclerc from there, the race pace vanished for Hamilton and Ferrari come the main Grand Prix.

A two-stop for Hamilton versus the more popular one-stop failed to improve his fortunes, and the icing on a not particularly enjoyable cake came when he and Leclerc were disqualified after the race, due to excessive plank wear and an underweight car respectively.

But, with Hamilton proving in the Shanghai Sprint what he can produce in a Ferrari, Vasseur was asked whether he is seeing a constant progression from Hamilton as he adjusts to life with Ferrari.

“Yes and no,” was Vasseur’s verdict.

He added: “I don’t imagine that he will do a step. I think it’s more the usage of the car, that sometimes he’s still asking about some functions and so.

“I think he was much more comfortable, perhaps something that you know when you are under control, but it’s not a drama.

“You didn’t ask the same question yesterday after the Sprint race, that he was in front and it was magic.

“And so it means that we have to stay calm in any situation. It’s why yesterday, after the Sprint race, I said that we were not World Champion, because I think it will be like this all the season, with up and down.

“If you have a look after 20 laps, we are all in four seconds, it means that we are speaking about one tenth a lap or one tenth and half a lap.

“It means that for different reasons, the good usage of the tyres, and I think it’s key, but it was key the last part of the season last year, or whatever reason, balance and so, we will move from P6 to P1 or P1 to P6. You have tons of examples from the beginning of the season about this.”

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Shedding some light on his reversal in fortunes between the China Sprint and Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed that setup changes were made on his Ferrari, ones which backfired.

“I’m glad that we tried, I’m glad that we tried something,” he told Sky F1. “I was struggling with performance.

“Basically, we had a pretty decent car in the Sprint, and then we made some changes, because we’re trying to move forward and improve the car, and we made it quite a bit worse going into qualifying, and then it was even worse in the race.

“So unfortunate, but very, very hard to keep up with the guys ahead. But lots to learn.

“The pit stop is too long here, it’s a lot of seconds to catch up, and they were still going fast at the end, like Max [Verstappen] was doing something similar to me, and I had much fresher tyres, so wasn’t great.”

Put to him that Ferrari apparently raised the ride height of the SF-25 as part of the changes, Hamilton replied: “I don’t know who said that we lifted the car, but no.

“We made some other changes mostly, as well as that, but not massively, it’s like small amounts.

“But all the pieces together made it quite a bit worse.

“Charles tested something in Bahrain, and I hadn’t tested it but we both went that way, and it was mad [laughs]. I know not to do that again.”

After that double DQ – Leclerc having initially finished the Chinese GP P5 and Hamilton P6 – it means Ferrari sit P5 in the early Constructors’ standings, already 61 points behind leaders and defending champions McLaren.

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