Vasseur: We at Ferrari want to fight for both F1 championships

Hamilton reunited with Vasseur for the first time since their 2006 GP2 Series [Formula 2 of the time] championship-winning season with ART Grand Prix. Two decades on, this week the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion completed his first official days as a Ferrari driver during the three days of Bahrain F1 Testing. Both he and Vasseur reflected on the early 'honeymoon' stage of their new partnership.

Vasseur believes the true pecking order remains uncertain due to unusual conditions in Bahrain: “It has been hard to get a clear read on the overall situation here in Bahrain, as the conditions were changing quite a lot day by day and from the morning to the afternoon.

"It was more similar to Vegas than to the Bahrain we usually know. Over the past six months, we have worked very hard on this car and have made a good improvement, but we will have to wait until we are all on track in Melbourne to understand where we are.

“If we look at the hierarchy of previous years, what we saw here was not the same as in qualifying a week later, under the same conditions. We will go from 10-15 degrees on the track to the 45 we will have in Australia, so in Melbourne, it will probably be a whole different story.

“We want to fight for both championships, as we know we have two drivers who can do it, and the mood in the team is very positive. We will continue to work hard to be ready in two weeks’ time for the start of the season,” Vasseur said.

Hamilton, who completed his first official test as a Ferrari driver, was pleased with the team’s progress and the data gathered ahead of the opening race in Australia: “Overall, it’s been a great few days and we’ve made some strong progress as a team.

“We had to finish a little earlier than planned Friday, and the weather has been hard to predict all week, but that’s how testing works sometimes, and we’ve managed to gather a lot of good information to build on before the season starts.

“The whole team has done an incredible job, and I’m so excited to get to the first race in Melbourne. I can’t wait to go racing with them," declared 40-year-old Hamilton, whose first Grand Prix start with Ferrari in Melbourne on 16 March will be his 357th in Formula 1. It will be his first race without Mercedes power.

Ferrari last won the Formula 1 Constructors' Championship in 2008 and is targeting a return to the top with Hamilton and Leclerc forming one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid.

History shows that Ferrari drivers who won their debut race were: Juan Manuel Fangio at 1956 Argentine Grand Prix, Mario Andretti winner of the 1971 South African Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell winner of the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix and most recently, Fernando Alonso who triumphed at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.