Hamilton handed 'Ferrari crash course' in wild Australian GP

Lewis Hamilton has described the "crash course in driving a Ferrari in the rain" he received during the Australian Grand Prix. 

The Ferrari driver started eighth and initially made no forward progress, but during the sudden rain shower after the lap 34 safety car, Hamilton opted to stay out and led the race on his Scuderia debut. 

However, he was then forced to pit for the intermediates under the safety car, dropping to ninth, before being passed by team-mate Charles Leclerc at Turn 1 and then by Oscar Piastri on the final lap around the outside at Turn 9. 

It meant Hamilton scored the first point of his Ferrari career, although he had expressed trepidation on Saturday after qualifying at having to drive a Ferrari in the rain for the first time. 

During the race, he engaged in a back-and-forth with engineer Riccardo Adami over engine settings and other energy deployment options as he detailed the "crash course" he had received.

"It was definitely a big crash course today, and I am just grateful I kept it out of the wall," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365 after his 10th-place finish. 

"It felt like I was in the deep, deep-end today, and everything is just new from driving the car for the first time in the rain, it was behaving a lot different to what I've experienced in the past - the power unit, the steering functions.

"All the things that are thrown to you, and you're trying to juggle all these new things.”

While Hamilton was left disappointed with the result, he expressed confidence in finding more pace in the car going forward.

"I'm grateful I got through it and came out with at least one point, I obviously didn't go off or spin today, but we were lacking pace for sure, but I do believe the car has more performance than we were able to extract this weekend.

"Everyone was going off, but I was managing to hold on and passed people, and it was dry once we got past the start line, so I was like: 'This is fine for me, I can hold this out, it's only a few laps to go', but then it pelted down in the last two laps.

"I've learned a huge amount this weekend, there is lots to take away from it, and I've got some changes I can make for next week, but today was a crash course in driving a Ferrari in the rain."