Frustration at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton slipped up this afternoon in Melbourne and not just literally as can be seen in the photo. The seven times world champion has yet to find the key to the problem that is the early season performance of the W15. That was the case again today, especially in the second session when the team tried a different set-up on the 44 car, but still proved unable to unlock its potential. “We've had one of the worst sessions in a long time here,” said Lewis. “FP1 was generally pretty good, the car felt the best it's ever been, but then it gradually got worse. Then we made some big changes in FP2 and it was hard. After these sessions I feel less confident than ever in this car, but there are some positive aspects from what we did in FP1.”

Toto Wolff was equally frustrated. “If I said I wasn't frustrated, I'd be lying. We definitely are, because we are working hard in all areas, but it seems we have yet to find the silver bullet to get us moving in the right direction. But we must continue to try. We have already seen this car's potential and I don't want to go backwards and say we are not dealing well with these regulations, because we have everything we need to improve. And we will succeed.”

Clearly Lewis expected a very different start to what is his last season with the Silver Arrows. You have to go back to 2009 – aeons ago- to find a time when the Englishman had a worse start in the two opening rounds of the season. Back then, from the first two rounds in Australia and Malaysia, he came away with just a seventh place in Sakhir, following on from disqualification here in Melbourne. This year, he has finished seventh in Sakhir and then ninth in Jeddah – not exactly a promising start.