Journalist notices something 'different' about Lewis Hamilton ahead of Australian GP

One journalist has noticed a change in the demeanour of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Hamilton has endured his poorest start to an F1 season since 2009.

And speaking on the Weekend Warm-Up, F1TV’s Lawrence Baretto has shared his observations on Hamilton’s mindset before the race in Melbourne.

The 39-year-old finished in ninth place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last time out.

That came off the back of a seventh at the season-opener in Bahrain.

Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan says Hamilton has looked ‘dejected’ at times in the early part of the campaign.

He’s warned the Briton that he needs a big result at Albert Park to counteract the early superiority of teammate George Russell.

Russell has scored 18 points to Hamilton’s 18 and beaten him in every meaningful session so far.

Lewis Hamilton has ‘spring in his step’ in Melbourne

Baretto reflected that Hamilton looked ‘really down’ after the race in Jeddah, with little optimism over his prospects in the W15.

But he had the air of a ‘different driver’ in the paddock on Thursday and expressed renewed hope for the remainder of the season.

He said: “Lewis was really down in Saudi when he was talking about where the car was.

“There was chatter about how difficult it is to drive.

“Today he seemed like a different driver, he had that spring in his step.

“He had that glint in his eye again. He was suggesting that things maybe aren’t as bad as he was suggesting in Saudi.”

Mercedes are making changes to their car ahead of this weekend after encountering significant issues.

BBC F1’s Harry Benjamin has heard that they will revert to the floor they used in pre-season testing.

The goal is to improve the car’s performance in high-speed corners, which was worse than that of Alpine and Williams in Saudi Arabia.

Director Andrew Shovlin said this week that the aerodynamics department are hard at work on possible fixes.

Hamilton insists that Mercedes have an ‘amazing’ car that is yet to show its full potential.

This was one of the team’s stronger races last year, with Russell and Hamilton qualifying second and third behind Max Verstappen.