EWIS HAMILTON was left infuriated with Ferrari as they produced another tactical blunder to scupper his chances of a podium.
The seven-time world champion was at the end of this tether in the closing stages of the .
Lewis Hamilton missed out on the podium at the Austrlian GPCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
He snapped at his temporary race engineer Carlo Santi “leave me to it”.
Eyebrows were raised over the Scuderia’s decision not to pit after a dozen laps under a virtual safety car, following Isack Hadjar’s retirement.
Their call not to box either the Brit or team-mate left the door wide open for Mercedes’ to romp to victory.
Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli took second-place while Leclerc had to settle for third ahead of fourth-place Hamilton as another podium opportunity fell from his clutches.
The majority of cars pitted under the virtual safety car, yet were one of the only teams that kept both their drivers out.
Hamilton said on the team radio: “At least one of us should have come in!”
By the time the opportunity was missed, Russell was just 10 seconds behind.
Hamilton asked: ”How are they only 10 seconds?!”
Last season, Hamilton was out-qualified and out-scored by team-mate Leclerc and ended the campaign without a single podium for the first time in his career.
The British 41-year-old was upbeat after the race in Melbourne though, and said: “I feel great. I feel like I could have kept going – I wish the race was longer!
“Another five laps or so, I think I would have got third.
“There’s lots and lots of positives to take from today and the car’s feeling great. It was actually a really fun race.”
Hamilton on whether he felt that Ferrari could get themselves into the fight at the front should they make further improvements over the next few races.
The best travel deals for F1
NOTHING comes close to the thrill of a live Grand Prix – and YOU can be there to see it all.
Get the full F1 experience with these unbeatable deals.
Bahrain GP – 8 to 13 Apr
5 nights from £1,399 pp
* * * *
Monaco GP – 4 to 9 June
11 nights including 7-night cruise from £2,549 pp
* * * *
Spanish GP – 11 to 15 June
7 nights from £549 pp
* * * *
British GP – 4 & 5 July
2 nights from £629 pp
* * * *
See ALL our F1 travel offers
*If you click on a link in this article, we will earn affiliate revenue.
He said: “Yeah, I think we’ve got some work to do to try and catch up…
“We’ve got to work on improving our power, clearly, because [Mercedes have] just got more power than everyone, it seems, or more battery power, not really sure what it is.
“But I really think we maximised our result and our performance, and I felt great in the car so I’m really, really excited for the next races.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
I'm dedicated to creating high-quality content that informs, inspires, and delights. If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch. Happy reading!
