Hamilton braced for testing times

Lewis Hamilton today faced up to the stark reality of a season he believes will be “a steep, very tough challenge”.

The enormity of McLaren’s problems hit home, and although they had prepared the groundwork a month ago by announcing they were nowhere near quick enough, what transpired in Melbourne was still a shock.

In his 105 practice sessions since arriving in Formula One with a bang, Hamilton has only once previously finished lower than he did around Melbourne’s Albert Park.

That was in Saturday practice at last season’s Italian Grand Prix when he propped up the timesheets, and then only because of heavy rain that hit at Monza.

Put in context, Hamilton has never suffered a practice day as bad as he did today, finishing 16th and 18th at the end of the two 90-minute sessions.

The aerodynamic issues that dogged the cars during winter testing have yet to be resolved, although the work being put in to do so cannot be faulted.

For now, it is a question of soldiering on and hoping for the best, although when that will materialise is anybody’s guess.

“Being at the back is tough for anyone,” said Hamilton, who ended the day 1.8 seconds down on Williams’ Nico Rosberg.

“But we’ve a lot of experience as a team, and personally I’ve a lot of experience of running at the back in other categories, so it’s not completely new to me.

“We’re clearly not in the place where we would love to be, but we’re working extremely hard, as hard as we can.

“We’ve a steep, very tough challenge ahead of us, but if anyone can do it, I believe my team can.

“We’ve just got to remain positive and keep pushing.”

At one point during the day, Hamilton was heard over the team radio complaining about his car “bottoming out” and being “difficult to drive”, emphasising his problems.

The remarkable point is, the McLaren was actually quicker along the straight by two to three kilometres per hour than their rivals.

Explaining his difficulties, Hamilton added: “In general it is a good car, other than a general lack of grip pretty much everywhere.

“It is not particularly one area of the track, it is everywhere. We cannot carry the speeds through the corners that we would like.

“It (the problem) is predominantly aero. We have made steps forward with it, and for sure the gap to the others is nowhere near as big as it was in Barcelona in testing, but we have still a long way to go.

“The guys back at the factory are working very hard to rectify it, but there is no quick fix. It is going to take some time.”

For new team principal Martin Whitmarsh, this is not the way he would have wanted to start his reign after taking over from Ron Dennis on March 1.

Addressing the situation, Whitmarsh said: “We arrived in Australia fully aware we’d be facing a tough start to the season.

“Although we’ve made good progress recently, we are well aware we still have a lot of work to do.”