Ferrari giving Hamilton 'time' to speed up

Mar.15 (GMM) Charles Leclerc could “send Lewis Hamilton into retirement” this year, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher warns.

Amid all the pre-season hype of the seven time world champion’s Maranello move, 40-year-old Hamilton headed to Melbourne clearly off his teammate’s pace.

He then qualified P8, one place behind Leclerc.

“The Italian media will get very agitated after a certain amount of time if Lewis doesn’t perform well enough,” Schumacher warned in an interview with f1-insider.com.

“Does he want to put up with that? The likelihood is therefore not small that Leclerc will send Hamilton into well-deserved retirement.”

Hamilton was further behind Leclerc in the earlier practice sessions in Melbourne – but team boss Frederic Vasseur stood firm.

“I have absolutely no doubt that Lewis will perform, and very soon,” the Frenchman told Sky Italia. “Last year, Carlos was P8 or P9 in FP1 and then he won the race.

“Lewis is still building a relationship with the team. It’s not a long process, but one we have to go through. We can’t expect too much at the beginning – we have long-term goals. But I’m very optimistic,” Vasseur added.

Hamilton reported at Albert Park that he was “adapting” his driving style to suit his new red car, with Vasseur agreeing: “The goal is not to be at the limit, but to learn the mechanisms of the team.

“I am not worried and I have no doubt that Hamilton will find all of his speed soon. When you join a new team, you go through a transition period where you lay the foundations, and that’s what we’ve done in these two months.

“It takes time to sort everything out.”