Lewis Hamilton has praised his new Ferrari squad following his debut win for the Scuderia in the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the Briton acknowledging that some outsiders may have “underestimated” the “steep climb” of adjusting to a new team following his tough weekend last time out in Australia.

Despite his prior success at the Shanghai International Circuit – having won a record six Grands Prix at the venue – Hamilton was a surprise candidate for pole in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying given Ferrari’s struggles at the season opener in Melbourne.

The seven-time World Champion then managed tyre graining on his SF-25 to take victory in Saturday’s Sprint – with an impressive margin of 6.889s over McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – and reflected afterwards on the continued process of adapting to his new team.

“I woke up feeling great today,” Hamilton explained. “The weather is beautiful here in Shanghai and we have this amazing crowd.

“The first race was difficult and obviously I think… I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the really steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatised within a team, understanding and communication, all sorts of things.

“The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way just clearly not understanding, maybe because they’ve not had the experience or just unaware. It felt great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I really didn’t feel comfortable in the car.

“From Lap 1 here this weekend, really feeling on it. We’ve done a great job – the engineers have done a great job, mechanics have done a great job to really finetune the car and it felt great today.

“I got a good start and then there’s so much grip on this new tarmac. It’s really hard to look after these tyres but I think everyone was struggling the same.”

Given the huge level of attention that Hamilton’s Ferrari switch has attracted – ever since it was first confirmed back in February 2024 – the 40-year-old was quizzed on how he expects the team’s fans to react to his Sprint win.

“I don’t know, I don’t feel the pressure,” Hamilton responded. “I know the Tifosi, I know the fans, I know the team wants to win. I know it means everything to them but I said the other day that Rome wasn’t built in a day. One step at a time – we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves.

“We’re going to continue to push. We’re going to be diligent and just remain focused, stay calm most importantly because these moments get us all excited.

“We’ll be back at our desks after this and focused on Qualifying this afternoon. It’s a long, long way. It’s a marathon not a sprint, so we’ve just got to take our time.”