After the qualification, Hamilton has questions for Mercedes and the FIA.

      In the qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton recorded the fourth and seventh fastest times, respectively, trailing pole sitter George Russell by 0.809 and 0.960 seconds.

      On Sky Sports, Lewis Hamilton questioned whether such a significant advantage for Mercedes is related to the engine's compression ratio, which likely exceeds the allowed parameters, and if so, why the FIA has not taken action.

      Charles Leclerc (4th): "Honestly, I don't think the problem lies solely with our team. According to GPS data, we see that with these cars, from lap to lap, all teams and drivers are getting different energy outputs.

      Unfortunately, we had an additional issue in the second session, which we later fixed before the final. I don't want to go too deep into details because everything is very complicated this year.

      I can say that overall the car 'learns' based on the previous lap. Given the problems in the second session and the red flags, the only normal starting point for us in the final was the lap in the first session. So, when we went out on track in the final, we were not in an optimal state.

      This certainly cost us time on the lap. Without this, we could have fought for third place, but definitely not for first. Unfortunately, that's the thought I'll take to the hotel today. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

      But speaking of Mercedes, I had a feeling about them yesterday. I thought our deficit was five or six tenths. In reality, it turned out to be eight, which is a very large gap.

      In Bahrain, the starts were somewhat chaotic, but I don't think it will be the same tomorrow, although I could be wrong. It seems to me that when everyone gets into their optimal range for the start, the difference between the cars isn't that big. It's quite easy for us to hit that optimal range at the start.

      As far as I understand, it's much harder for Mercedes to achieve that optimal state, although I've never driven with their engine. Because of this, their start might be more challenging, but if they do everything perfectly, I don't think they'll have any issues in the race."

      Lewis Hamilton (7th): "Not the best qualifying, but I felt confident throughout the weekend. I was really happy with the car and felt highly motivated.

      The first session on Medium tires went great. I was third or fourth – a solid result on this compound. Then in the second part of qualifying, we started having engine issues and problems with the hybrid system's energy output. This affected our performance, making it difficult to extract the maximum from the car.

      I believe that without these issues, we could have fought for third or fourth place. But I don't think we could have kept up with Mercedes or gotten close to them. We still have a lot to do.

      It's obvious that in practice, Mercedes didn't show the full power of their engine because it would have sparked discussions about the compression ratio. They did a good job with the engine, just like we did, but I want to understand why there's a two-tenths or more second difference in one sector due to power.

      And if that difference is indeed related to the compression ratio, then I want to understand why the FIA hasn't taken any action and what is being done to correct this. But if it's not that, and everything is just really bad, then we need to work better."