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Lando Norris’s observation in Suzuka on Thursday that McLaren are “literally the only team that has two good drivers at the minute” felt for a second as if it might be seriously contentious. What was Norris saying exactly? Was he suggesting that Lewis Hamilton was a spent force? That Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon are also-rans?
Luckily for Norris (unless his intention was to start World War Three), he went on to clarify that statement, saying what he meant was McLaren are the only team who have “two drivers who understand their teams and have been at their teams for a long time”.
“Lewis is new to the Ferrari,” Norris added, referring specifically to the seven-time world champion who, lest we forget, stated boldly at the start of the season that he and team-mate Charles Leclerc were “probably the strongest pairing F1 has ever had”.
Norris added: “He openly says he is [still] learning how to use the steering wheel – the complexity of it, not just how to use one. Is he going to be able to get every last bit out of it like me and Oscar [Piastri] can? No.”
It is worth bearing Norris’s comments in mind when we assess the start to Hamilton’s career at Ferrari.
It has been a difficult couple of race weekends for the 40-year-old. Hamilton struggled to get to grips with the SF25 in Melbourne, losing any confidence he had built up over the course of the weekend when the rain came down heavily on the Sunday.
Then, after winning the sprint in Shanghai to get his career in red up and running, Hamilton and Ferrari went off in the wrong direction and he struggled again in the main race – which then ended in farce anyway when both he and team-mate Leclerc were disqualified for technical issues.
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Hamilton won the sptint race in China but was then disqualified from the main race on Sunday - Getty Images/Mario Renzi
One can well imagine how miffed he would have been about that balls-up. But one can also imagine how sensitive Hamilton would be to any suggestion that he was furious with his team for committing it.
He is still only two races into his Ferrari career. He is desperately trying to build friendships and trust. It is why he was so irked post-Melbourne by suggestions that he was angry with new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
And it is why he again hit back in Japan on Thursday at any suggestion that he was “losing faith” in Ferrari following their double disqualification in China. “I saw someone said something on whether I’m losing faith in the team, which is complete rubbish,” Hamilton said. “I have absolute 100 per cent faith in this team.”
As he should. The truth is, China was a shocker from Ferrari’s perspective. To lose one car for a technical infringement might be considered a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness. But Hamilton has no reason to lose faith yet.
Ferrari have a quick car. They have shown that intermittently both in testing and in the first couple of races, not least in Shanghai where Hamilton won the sprint from pole. That win alone should end any questions about whether Hamilton can cut it any more. He has already shown that he can. It is just a question now of doing it more consistently.
Hamilton pleaded once again on Thursday for patience.
“There was obviously a huge amount of hype at the beginning of the year and I don’t know if everyone was expecting us to be winning from race one and winning a championship in our first year, but that wasn’t my expectation,” he said. “I know that I’m coming into a new culture, a new team and it’s going to take time. Every team has been different – McLaren was different, Mercedes was different again to McLaren, and here again.”
The fact that F1 is in Suzuka this weekend should please him at least. Hamilton has a superb record at the Honda-owned track, winning four times on the figure-of-eight circuit (his other win in Japan came at Fuji in his rookie season in 2007).
With no sprint race this weekend, and three practice sessions to get up to speed, he has a great opportunity to make progress.
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