Hamilton hopeful after Friday in Australia: 'Slowly building up to it'

Despite trailing teammate Charles Leclerc across both Friday sessions in Australia, Lewis Hamilton is hopeful he can have strong first weekend racing in Ferrari colours.

Speaking to Sky Sports the seven-time world champion was happy to make his first meters in the Scuderia's SF-25 in the 2025 season. "It’s (been) a super exciting build-up to this week and it felt amazing to get out there and be in a Ferrari here."

During winter testing in Bahrain, Hamilton seemd to be able to extract a bit more performance from his Ferrari than he did during the first two practice sessions in Australia. "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 FP1."

However, in FP2 the Briton managed to clock in the 5th fastest time, closing the gap to the front-runners. "FP2 was definitely a little better but just building. We’re slowly building and getting a little bit faster bit by bit," a hopeful Hamilton concluded.