Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is confident they have taken the right approach to help Lewis Hamilton adjust to his new environment as quickly as possible.

Hamilton had just one-and-a-half days of testing in the team’s new car before the first event of the season this weekend. He was unable to drive for them in the post-season test at Yas Marina last year, unlike several other drivers who changed teams.

However Ferrari used the opportunity to run Hamilton in one of their older chassis, known as Testing of Previous Cars under F1’s regulations, at the beginning of the season. Vasseur said that gave him a useful chance to get used to the team’s internal processes.

“It’s not [the goal] to be at the limit on one session, it’s not a matter of speed,” said Vasseur in the FIA press conference after the first practice session.

“The target is for him to know everybody in the team, to discover the software, the process, the system. I’m convinced that we have something very similar to Mercedes, but at the end of the day, perhaps not with the same name, or the same way to use them.

“It’s just a learning process. We did one or two test days with the TPC one or two months ago. It was a good way to approach it but nothing compares to the race weekend. We have to go through and we have to do it, but I’m not worried at all about this.”

Hamilton placed 12th in the first practice session at Albert Park, six-tenths of a second slower than team mate Charles Leclerc, but Vasseur said this was no cause for concern.

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“He’s on this process, honestly, you can’t draw a conclusion after a first session,” he said. “I have absolutely no doubt that he will be able to perform and to perform soon. Last year I think that Carlos [Sainz Jnr] was P8 or P9 in free practice and he won the race.”

Hamilton said yesterday he is still getting accustomed to the differences between Ferrari’s car and the Mercedes he drove last year.

“Joining a new team, the sooner you can reach a high level and get results, the better. But inevitably, there’s a transition period, and there is a foundation that’s needed to be built, […] that’s what we have been doing over the past couple of months.

“The first half of the season, it is about that foundation. Building those relationships, the trust, you’re building with absolutely every everyone in the team. Trust isn’t something you just walk in the door and have, it’s built over time.

“For me, the goal is to win, of course, and to take the team forward. I’ve had some not-so-spectacular years and I’m trying to see if I can have a better year than I have the last three. There are a lot of factors that can add to that.”

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