Formula One news

'Hardest car I've ever driven' - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was relieved to come away from the Australian Grand Prix with an eventual podium finish, having endured a patience-testing weekend. At his first attempt of title defense, Hamilton suffered with a car which bottomed out in practice followed by a gearbox problem in qualifying, bringing him a 5-place grid penalty. Despite this, he had still battled back to fourth positoin by the end of the race.

"We scored way more points than we could have realistically expected," he told reporters after the race. "I was looking to trying and score one, so to get six is a great achievement." Lewis' original scoring of five points became six for third position following the penalty applied for Jarno Trulli, for a pass under the safety car period.

"We've definitely not forgotten how to win," Hamilton continued. "Our strategy was perfect and the team did a fantastic job; considering the package we've got, I wrung every last ounce of pace out of the car, drove one of my best ever races and absolutely raced my heart out. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to drive in my life, but reliability was good."

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