Lewis Hamilton's father exposes Ferrari 'difficulties'

Lewis Hamilton's difficult start to his Ferrari F1 career at the Australian Grand Prix has been explained by his father Anthony Hamilton.

The champion was joined by his father for his race debut in red, with Hamilton Sr revealing that it felt like his son's first day ever in F1 as he joined Ferrari on the grid in Melbourne.

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But it turned out to be a frustrating afternoon for the former Mercedes man, crossing the finish line down in 10th after what was a chaotic race at Albert Park, which saw six drivers fail to finish thanks to treacherous on-track conditions.

It was to be Lando Norris who was crowned the victor as he got his title bid off to a winning start, with Max Verstappen and George Russell completing the top three.

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Hamilton off to slow start at Ferrari

Hamilton admitted both before and during the weekend that he was still getting to grips with his new car, and was eager to play down his chances of challenging at the top end of the grid on his first race outing at the Scuderia.

Hamilton Sr - who earned widespread praise after offering words of comfort to a crestfallen Isack Hadjar after his early exit - said that it was always going to be a tough day at the office for his son, regardless of the weather.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he admitted: "At the end of the day we're just really pleased that we got this race over and done [with], and that we finished it - that was the most important thing.

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"[With] so few laps and time in the car, it was always going to be difficult, but we're quite pleased.

"It's been a learning process. We've learned a lot about the car, what we need to do, what we need to change and where we need to go with it, so it was good.

"It would have been great to have come here and been on the pace and up the front. That might have been too easy.

"We like things difficult so we're going to work hard."

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