Lewis Hamilton admitted he does not know where the wet switch is on his Ferrari as he prepares for a “shock to the system” in Sunday’s rain-expected Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton will start his first race in the scarlet red from eighth after he qualified one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, and 0.877 seconds adrift of McLaren pole-sitter Lando Norris.
Norris saw off team-mate Piastri’s challenge by just 0.084 sec as the British team secured an impressive front-row lockout in Melbourne.
World champion Max Verstappen finished a distant third with Mercedes’ George Russell fourth. RB’s Yuki Tsunoda took a surprise fifth, one place ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon.
Rain is forecast for Sunday’s race at Albert Park, with Hamilton ordinarily expected to revel in the changeable conditions.
However, the 40-year-old said: “I have never driven the car in the wet, and I don’t know where the wet switch is. What settings am I going to have to use with this car? It is all different.
“When you qualify eighth you hope for it to be wet, but for me I have got three laps (going to the grid) to learn the car in the wet, and then I have got to go out and race.
“The rain has often been something I have enjoyed. Growing up in the UK, it has been a comfort zone for me.
“But for the first time, I will be in an uncomfortable position because I have never driven this car in the wet. It will be a shock to the system when I get out there. I will be learning on the fly and giving it everything.”
Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari has been the major talking point ahead of the new campaign.
Hamilton spun on the exit of Turn 11 in the concluding moments of Q2 to leave him facing the wrong way. He escaped the drama without damage and was able to make it back to his garage before returning for the final phase.
But the seven-time world champion has not been able to match Leclerc’s speed all weekend, and he finished more than two tenths behind the Monegasque.
Hamilton continued: “It has been a big learning curve. The car felt so much different than I have ever experienced here, and it has been a slower process to build confidence in the car.
“I thought I was further along than I was. I got to first practice on Friday, and I was like, ‘jeez I have still got a long way to go’.
“We have done some good work to move the car forward. But I don’t know which tool to use at the moment so, for the first time, I am heavily relying on my engineers.”
Ferrari were expected be McLaren’s closest challengers. And Norris, after landing his 10th career pole, said: “I did expect Ferrari to be quicker. Whether that’s because they didn’t put any good laps in or struggled more with the car, I don’t know? You’d have to ask them, but we all expected them to be quicker.”
Verstappen drove from 17th to first in F1’s last wet race in Brazil. Norris started on pole that day and crossed the line sixth – a poor display which all but ended his title challenge.
Norris added: “It’s not always as simple as just putting on wets and having a crack.
“It’s a sketchy track here because you’ve got walls close and you can’t make a lot of mistakes.
“You pay the price very quickly. I am excited but nervous at the same time. We know we have a good car, but we just have to keep our heads down.”
