Lewis Hamilton’s move to Mercedes looked more masterstroke than mis-step on Sunday as the Briton battled to fifth place in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix while his former team McLaren struggled to score.
Having abandoned the team that nurtured him for six seasons and secured him a world championship in 2008, Hamilton’s switch to an outfit that had underwhelmed in its three seasons since buying Brawn GP in 2009 had appeared fraught with danger.
He was smiling on Sunday after the positive signs from winter testing translated into a solid weekend at Melbourne’s Albert Park.
The 28-year-old had landed third place on the grid behind the two Red Bull cars after qualifying sessions postponed from Saturday were wrapped up only on the morning of the race.
Although blown away by Lotus’s winner Kimi Raikkonen and shaded by the Ferraris and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton saw enough in the Mercedes F1 W04 car to feel confident of challenging the front-runners.
“Really happy. I think it’s way better than we probably ever expected on the first race of the season,” Hamilton said.
“It was great and the car was feeling really good so I don’t really know how the other guys were pulling away so quickly. But we will keep pushing and hopefully we’ll get there.”
Hamilton’s fastest lap of 1:29.274 was still nearly half a second slower than Raikkonen’s and another four drivers, including Toro Rosso’s 12th-placed Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, had quicker times.
His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg had a darker day, coming to halt on lap 26 with an electronics failure, which followed a gearbox problem during Friday practice.
Mercedes’s troubles paled next to those of McLaren, however, who were badly off the pace and saved from further blushes by the craft of ninth-placed Jenson Button.
There was no delight in McLaren’s woes for Hamilton, although the Briton did permit himself a gentle pat on the back for joining Mercedes.
“I think our position and how the car’s behaving and how I feel in the team just confirms to me that I feel like I made a good choice,” Hamilton said after qualifying.
“I never looked back once I made the choice and I didn’t have any regrets about it.”