Sawt Falasteen - Hamilton eyes dream Ferrari start as F1 revs up in Melbourne

The former Mercedes ace Hamilton is bidding for a record eighth world title and his first since 2020 after being outshone by the Dutchman and his imperious Red Bull team over the intervening years.

A bombshell move to Ferrari after a glorious 12-year spell at Mercedes has rejuvenated the 40-year-old, who is eager to apply the lessons learned from 162 laps of testing at Bahrain last month to race conditions.

"I'm so excited to get to the first race in Melbourne. I can't wait to go racing with them," Hamilton said of Ferrari.

"The passion here is like nothing you've ever seen.

"They've got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship and it's just about putting all the pieces together."

Hamilton has tasted victory twice before at the fast and bumpy Albert Park circuit with McLaren and Mercedes, but not since 2015.

Ferrari have fared better, winning four of the last six Australian races including in 2024 when Carlos Sainz, the man Hamilton replaced, took the chequered flag ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen started from pole but failed to finish in Melbourne last year, limping out with smoke billowing from a brake fire.

It was a minor aberration for the Dutchman, who went on to clinch a fourth world title with two races to spare ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.

The 27-year-old Verstappen is now bidding to become only the second driver behind Michael Schumacher to win five championships in a row.

Verstappen has been keen to play down expectations, telling Dutch media: "I don't think we can fight for the win already in Melbourne.

"If you look at the lap times, then I think McLaren is the favourite," Verstappen added, referring to Bahrain testing.

"On our side, not everything went completely smoothly, but on the other hand we have some ideas on how to improve."

- New faces -

He is now partnered at Red Bull by Liam Lawson after the under-performing Sergio Perez was axed, with the New Zealander one of six drivers making their full season debut in Australia.

Australian eyes will be on Jack Doohan, the son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick, who makes his home bow with Alpine.

The other four are Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who took Hamilton's Mercedes seat, Briton Oliver Bearman (Haas), Brazil's Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and France's Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls).

Verstappen's caution follows Norris throwing down the gauntlet last year when he led McLaren to their first team title since 1998.

As expected, McLaren were rapid in Bahrain with Norris and Australian teammate Oscar Piastri keen for statement drives this week.

"This circuit has been good to us in the past and hopefully we've carried our momentum from 2024 into this year," said Britain's Norris.

"We had a productive test but we won't know where we stand until qualifying on Saturday."

Norris cautioned that he expects teams other than McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes to be more competitive this season.

"I think this should be a very exciting season with a lot of close racing. There's going to be a lot of competition."

Melbourne is back in its traditional position as the opening race of the season for the first time in five years, with organisers expecting more than 450,000 fans through the Albert Park turnstiles.

The city had held the first grand prix almost every year since the Australian race moved from Adelaide in 1996, but has not done so since 2019 after the Covid pandemic led to Bahrain taking over.

J.Saleh--SF-PST