The seven-time world champion had been following Mercedes team-mate George Russell as they topped the FP1 timetable, but his form dipped in evening practice as Hamilton finished seventh – behind Frontrunner Max Verstappen was nearly a second away.

Reflecting on the struggle to find a good balance with the car, Hamilton said the day’s performance comparisons were hard to swallow.

“We’re not particularly fast and it’s a struggle,” he said. “We’re just trying a lot of different things.

“P1 looked pretty good, but going into P2, the real speed came out and it was just a thump. It was a bit hard to take at times, but we’ll keep going, we’ll regroup and see if we can do something A change in the setup to get the car in top shape.”

While things looked encouraging for Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix as the team was able to challenge Red Bull, things have become more difficult of late.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14

Photography: Jack Grant / motorsport pictures

Hamilton doesn’t think its W14’s performance feels any better than the difficult 2022 car, aside from the steps Mercedes has taken over the winter to cure the dolphin disease.

“Melbourne is a different place from day to night and it’s much better to drive there,” he said. “Baku feels better than here, so I think maybe it’s because of the heat, or maybe it’s just our current balance.

“I’m going to be optimistic, I’m going to be hopeful that we can put the car in a better position and maybe a few steps up.

“But it felt like, except last year we had a hardcore bounce, in general it felt like we were driving pretty much the same car. So that’s the difficult thing.”

Hamilton said Mercedes’ current pace also demonstrates how “desperate” the team is for the next race at Imola when a major update is looming.

“I’m trying to stay positive about it and we’re working as hard as we can,” he said. “It’s just that we desperately need these upgrades, that’s for sure.

“We just have to keep our head down for another game and hopefully we can carve out a new path in the next one.”