Toto Wolff’s comments should inspire hope for Lewis Hamilton (Image: Sky Sports F1)
offered an encouraging assessment of ‘s standing after the Scuderia struggled their way through qualifying at the . finished the session in P7 while was only eighth-fastest in his first competitive session with his new team.
After pre-season testing in Bahrain, most onlookers had second in the pecking order behind , but the Italian constructor struggled around the Albert Park Circuit as Leclerc and Hamilton wrestled with the SF-25. Despite the frustrating outcome, chief Wolff believes that are stronger than they showed and are closer to and than the qualifying times would suggest.
“In the front, you see how close it is,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “Between Verstappen, the two Ferraris who were not quick this time around but they are definitely there, there could be six cars that will put up a good fight.
“I think race pace we were all the same apart from maybe the that were a tiny bit further up. But I don’t think this result is where they [] really are, they should probably be a bit higher.”
If Leclerc and Hamilton are to salvage some respectable points from the Australian GP weekend, they will need to make quick work of the two cars ahead. and are the drivers on the third row of the grid after immense performances for Racing Bulls and Williams, respectively.
Assessing his performance on debut for , Hamilton said: “I generally feel good. Yeah, I had a really good time out there. Everything has been a first this weekend – my first P1 with , my first practice sessions and qualifying, and it has been a lot of work to really adapt to this car that is so much different here to what I have experienced in the past.
“But it has been interesting. I mean I definitely didn’t expect us to be… I didn’t know that we would be nine tenths off, or eight tenths off today, but there is a lot to dissect for sure.”
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