Hamilton’s first Ferrari win ‘more in sight than ever’ after China podium

Lewis Hamilton believes his first Ferrari victory is finally within reach after ending his podium drought in China.

Hamilton joined Ferrari last season in a blockbuster move, but the move failed to live up to its billing, with the driver recording his first-ever season without a top-three result in a grand prix.

Lewis Hamilton targets first Ferrari win after China podium breakthrough

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As the season progressed, Hamilton’s frustrations boiled over in radio rants with his then-race engineer Riccardo Adami, while he cut a dejected figure during his post-race interviews.

The fairytale faded, and fast.

However, chapter two is already yielding better results.

Hamilton is thriving in Formula 1’s new energy-harvesting era, and has been in the thick of the fight for the podium in the two opening races, Australia and China.

While he lost out to Charles Leclerc in Melbourne, and was behind his teammate in the Sprint in China, Hamilton finally broke his podium duck in the grand prix to record his first podium as a Ferrari driver.

Next goal, a first win.

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“I definitely feel that I could say that it’s more in sight than ever before,” Hamilton enthused after the race. “Last year, it couldn’t have been further from view.

“But I think as you’ve seen, these guys [Mercedes] in qualifying — somehow we were a little bit closer in qualifying yesterday — but in the race trim I think they’ve got four or five-tenths on us at the moment.

“That’s a huge step to pick up, both in downforce and efficiency and also power. That’s a huge upgrade that we need to push for.

“But I really do believe in everyone back in Maranello and that it’s not an impossible feat to overcome. So yeah, forza Ferrari, we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc and his former teammate George Russell in Shanghai, showing off the skills that earned him seven world championship titles.

It was arguably one of his best races in Ferrari red, with Leclerc admitting his teammate was the stronger of the two Scuderia drivers on the day.

“I definitely feel like I’m back to my best, both mentally and physically,” said Hamilton. “I still think there’s room to improve.

“Training this winter has been the heaviest and the most intense that I’ve ever had, and that probably comes hand in hand with being older. It takes longer to recover. But I’ve managed to pull these new tools together. I’ve got a great trainer that I’ve been working with in the past, but we worked together since Christmas Day.

“Then the time at the factory, obviously new engineer, and that’s obviously been a real good boost as well. Great morale within the team.”

Hamilton reiterated that he decided during the winter break that he would adopt a more positive attitude this season after last year’s struggles. An attitude that has been helped by knowing Ferrari listened to him in the design of the SF-26.

“I just decided on Christmas Day how I was going to start this season,” he explained. “I decided what I was going to do mentally and I’m going to continue to tweak that. I do think there’s more to come.

“I think I can still eke out more performance from this car. I’m still learning about it as I go, particularly with deployment and that.

“Then on the backside, mid to end of last year, digging deep with the engineers and talking to them about the things that I wanted from a car that I didn’t have any part of developing last year, to then develop the car with them this year and to see them listen and put some of those things that I’d asked for on the car, I’m incredibly grateful to them for listening on that side of things. It just makes you feel more united with everyone because you’re moving in the same direction.

“So, I’m looking forward to getting back next week to Maranello and seeing everybody. Yeah, big, big push.”

Hamilton is fourth in the Drivers’ Championship with 33 points, 18 behind championship leader George Russell.

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