Lewis Hamilton has been left excited for what is to come after enjoying a \u201creally fun\u201d Australian Grand Prix, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that he wished the race could have gone on longer \u2013 particularly after only just missing out on P3 to Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc.<\/p>\n
Starting from P7 on the grid, Hamilton<\/a> made a strong start when the event got underway in Melbourne, climbing up to third place behind the similarly fast-launching Leclerc<\/a> and the Mercedes<\/a> of George Russell<\/a>.<\/p>\n With both of the Scuderia\u2019s cars remaining out on track during two Virtual Safety Cars \u2013 while Mercedes pitted Russell and Kimi Antonelli<\/a> in the first phase \u2013 the Silver Arrows made a one-stop strategy work, meaning that Leclerc and Hamilton slipped behind them when they eventually made their own stops.<\/p>\n While it seemed that Mercedes had sealed a 1-2, Hamilton chased down Leclerc in the final stages of the race – but the seven-time World Champion narrowly lost out on the last spot on the podium, crossing the line a little over half a second behind his team mate.<\/p>\n Despite this, Hamilton was left feeling positive about his afternoon in Melbourne<\/a>, commenting afterwards: \u201cI feel great. I feel like I could have kept going \u2013 I wish the race was longer! Another five laps or so, I think I would have got third.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots and lots of positives to take from today and the car\u2019s feeling great. It was actually a really fun race.\u201d<\/p>\n