Lewis Hamilton taking positives from Australian Grand Prix despite Mercedes advantage

Hamilton seems to have put his disastrous maiden season with Ferrari behind him and looked rejuvenated, with his performance in Melbourne proving as much.

He was not far off Charles Leclerc in qualifying and was in the thick of the fight with Mercedes during Sunday's Grand Prix, and while he did not manage to reach the podium, the Briton remained positive.

Ferrari shot themselves in the foot when they kept their cars out on track under Virtual Safety Car periods, opting for track position, which they gained over Mercedes at the start.

Hamilton was not happy with that during the race, but when asked about it afterwards, he said: "No. I have to go back and have a look, but I'm generally really proud of the team.

"They have done an amazing job to get the car to where it is. Of course, we are not as fast as Mercedes, and we have work to do, but we are right in the fight.

"It was a really fun race, and it felt good for me. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I had great pace. Lots of positives to take from today," Hamilton insisted.

Ferrari were definitely better in race mode, but Hamilton insisted the performance was there and that the team struggled to show it.

"All weekend I've been really strong," he claimed. "Qualifying didn't show the true pace. We had a few problems through qualifying, which meant I was further back than I should have been.

"We went into today, and none of us really knew what the true pace would be, but I felt great from the get-go.

"There's lots of positives, but we have a lot of work to do to catch Mercedes, but it's not impossible.

"I believe we can close the gap," the 41-year-old went on. "It's not going to be easy; it's got a lot of work to do because it's quite significant, particularly on a single lap.

"We need to find out whether it's power or battery power, but the cars are just as quick through the corners, so we need to keep pushing," Hamilton concluded. (Source: Sky Sports F1)