Lewis Hamilton set for major Ferrari boost at Chinese Grand Prix

Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur has handed Lewis Hamilton a boost ahead of his second race weekend with the Ferrari team.

Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc struggled to make any impact on proceedings at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Ferrari appearing to be well behind the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.

Leclerc could only manage eighth while Hamilton endured a dismal debut weekend with the Maranello outfit, qualifying eighth and finishing down in 10th.

Formula 1 heads to China this weekend for round two of the season, and Hamilton has been handed a boost from his new team boss Fred Vasseur.

Ferrari set for improved China package?

Vasseur was critical of Ferrari's opening race in Melbourne, admitting to a costly mistake in pitting his drivers too late when the rain hit the circuit.

"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," Vasseur said in a team statement after the Australian GP.

"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."

Now though, Vasseur has offered some hope to Hamilton and Leclerc, and has suggested that his two drivers may be driving an improved package in China compared to what was on offer in Australia, hinting at changes being made for race two.

"In Australia we didn’t see the real Ferrari, in China we start from scratch," he defiantly told AutoRacer.it.

Hamilton will certainly hope so, after coming across as quite frustrated with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami at the Australian GP, and seemingly not being able to get past the Williams of Alex Albon for much of the first stint of the race.

READ MORE: Ferrari absence 'confirmed' at Chinese Grand Prix

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