Scuderia Ferrari HP's season got off to a difficult start, leaving Australia after the opening round with just five points, far below expectations, courtesy of an eighth place finish from Charles Leclerc and a tenth from Lewis Hamilton.

The race in Albert Park was run in difficult conditions, starting on a damp track before drying, prior to the rain returning in the final stages, turning the race into a game of roulette, when the decisions taken did not deliver the hoped for results.

The track was damp prior to the grid forming up, with rain falling intermittently, catching out several drivers almost immediately so that the race start was aborted and its distance reduced by one lap. At the restart, Charles got away well and immediately dealt with Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda to go fifth, while Lewis found himself stuck behind Williams' Thai driver in eighth place. The order remained unchanged until lap 33 when Fernando Alonso crashed, bringing out the Safety Car, when everyone opted to pit for slicks, the Ferrari duo going for Hards, but the positions remained the same. On lap 45 a short sharp shower hit the track which jumbled up the order. The McLarens, then first and second, went off the track and only Lando Norris was able to get going immediately to pit to take on Intermediates once more. Max Verstappen and the Ferrari pair stayed out, with Lewis finding himself ahead of Charles who had spun in sector 3. At the end of the next lap, the Dutchman decided to pit, believing the track was too wet for slicks and he went on to finish second. The Scuderia drivers stayed out for one more lap in the hope the rain would ease off. However, it did not and so, one lap later, having lost a lot of time fighting to keep their Hard-shod SF-25s on track in the rain, they pitted for Intermediates, emerging to find themselves down in ninth and tenth places. In the closing stages, Charles passed Lewis and also Pierre Gasly to claim eighth place. Lewis also passed the Frenchman to go ninth but on the last lap he was unable to fend off Oscar Piastri and had to settle for tenth.

Charles Leclerc: It was a tough race and there are things we have to review and work on. We weren't the fastest out there but in such weather conditions, there was a chance of scoring some big points which we didn't capitalise on today.

I lost a few positions after the spin at turn 11. In the end, it wasn't that bad, with the Safety Car that came out later on, but then we stopped a lap too late to switch to Inters, losing positions again. There are two things we have to look into. The first is easy, it was my mistake. The second is something we will sort out as a team, looking into our decisions and making sure we make the right call if the situation comes up again.

It's a continuous process of improvement. We are disappointed but it's good to know we'll be back in the car in just a few days in China to give it another go.

Lewis Hamilton: Not the start we wanted but there's lots to take away and work on from this one. The start was okay, but I lost momentum out of T1 on the outside of Charles and got stuck behind Albon for most of the race.

The rain always mixes things up and strategy comes down to timing and a bit of luck. We took a gamble and made up places, but then boxing too late for Inters cost us, dropping us to the back of the top 10 with too much ground to recover.

I struggled with the balance, but it was an important race for learning more about the car and in different weather conditions, as well as gaining more experience working with a new team.
McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace, so there's work to do, but we'll dig deep. I'm looking forward to getting back in the car next weekend in China.

Fred Vasseur: We can't be happy with today's result as it doesn't match the potential of our car and that means, as a team, we didn't do a good job. Charles got a good start and Lewis was also fighting to move up the order. Then, when the rain returned, we took the risk of staying out, as indeed did Max (Verstappen). But then we got our next strategy move wrong by staying out one lap too long and we paid the price. As for positives from the weekend, we had strong pace on Friday in both qualifying and race trim, matching Mercedes and Red Bull, just a bit behind McLaren. It's also good that in a few days we will be back on track, which means that very soon we will be able to evaluate our potential once again. It's a very long season and we just have to continue to work hard.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Albert Park here.