Lewis Hamilton has hit out at “yapping” critics for making “uneducated guesses” about his Ferrari debut struggles, after completing a remarkable turnaround to win the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint.
Having struggled to 10th in the wet in Melbourne on his first Ferrari appearance last weekend, Hamilton took Sprint pole in China on Friday before producing a superb drive to ease to victory in Saturday’s 19-lap contest.
The seven-time world champion’s blockbuster switch to Ferrari after 12 seasons with Mercedes made him the centre of attention at the season opener in Australia, with much analysis following a display that Hamilton reflected on after sealing China Sprint pole as a “disaster”.
Speaking in his on-track post-race interview at the Shanghai International Circuit after his win, Hamilton said: “I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team, become acclimatised within the team, understanding and communication – all sorts of things.
Highlights of the Sprint race from the Chinese Grand Prix.
“The amount of critics and people I heard, yapping along the way, clearly not understanding maybe because they never had the experience or were unaware.
“It felt great to come here and be more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I didn’t feel great in the car. From Lap 1 this weekend we have been on it.”
Speaking in a press conference shortly after, Hamilton was asked whether the criticism he had spoken about on track made it more satisfying to have claimed the first Sprint win of his career.
He said: “I’m not really talking back to them or anything like that. It’s just we live in such a strange time in the world that people just love to be negative at any opportunity, even with the smallest things, you love to be negative about it. That’s the difficult time that we’re living in.
Lewis Hamilton has hit back at those who criticised his radio exchanges with Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami and says that his communication will get stronger ‘race to race’.
“I see certain individuals, and again, I don’t look really read the news, but I see bits here and there. I see people that I’ve admired for years just talking out of turn. Clearly, some of them really just making uneducated guesses of what’s going on.
“There’s a real lack of appreciation of, it is not easy moving to a new team that works completely different, a completely different characteristic of car. You don’t just jump in and it’s good.”
Hamilton had spoken ahead of the season about his admiration for the speed with which former Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel had settled at the Italian team, and once more compared his journey to those of his fellow former world champions.
He added: “It’s true if you look at Seb, you look at Fernando, they did a great job when they joined the team in their early phases.
Ride onboard with Lewis Hamilton as he took a sensational pole for the Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“But to build long-term success with the team takes time to build and that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to jump start it or get ahead of myself. I’m just taking my time to build with this great team. There’s so much potential in this team.
“For us to be at the second race already and have that experience, this is a track I’ve gone well at for many, many years, so you got to take that a little bit.
“But in general, I’ve been feeling really good in the car, and as I’m learning more where the car likes to be set up for a track like this, for example, when I get to another track, the site, the last one, I think I have a bit of a better understanding of where to put it.”
‘We can’t get ahead of ourselves’
Hamilton’s Sprint triumph in Shanghai was surprisingly not only in light of his debut performance, but also because McLaren had appeared to be comfortably ahead of their rivals.
Lando Norris won in Melbourne and McLaren likely would have had a one-two if it hadn’t been for Oscar Piastri spinning in the rain.
The pair were clear favourites for Sprint pole, but Piastri was third and Norris sixth. The Australian managed to pass Max Verstappen for second in the Sprint but Norris could only salvage eighth after losing three places on the opening lap.
Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish as he claimed his first victory with Ferrari in the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Asked after the race whether the result had given him confidence that he and Ferrari can compete with McLaren for silverware this season, Hamilton preached caution.
He said: “We’ve just come from a race where we finished 10th, so there are so many factors to really take into account.
“We just can’t get ahead of ourselves off that one result that we just had.
“The car felt good today, and yes, managed to finish ahead of a McLaren and a Red Bull. But that doesn’t necessarily mean… you know, look at qualifying, it’s very, very close.
“So not making the mistakes is going to be key. But I think we seem to be there or thereabouts this weekend, which is really good.
“I hope that that continues. But again, from track to track, we’ll have to wait and see. We saw last week we didn’t have that.
“I’m hoping that there’s a lot of learnings from last week that we applied already to this week and the car has been in a much better place, so I hope that we can keep it there. And if we can, then yes, that makes me happy.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Chinese GP schedule
Saturday March 22
- 6.35am: Chinese GP Qualifying build-up*
- 7am: CHINESE GP QUALIFYING*
- 9am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday March 23
- 2.40am: F1 Academy Race 2
- 5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
- 9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered flag*
- 10am: Ted’s Notebook*
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
