Russell demonstrated the potential of the new W15 by qualifying third for the season-opener in Bahrain, while Hamilton was left a frustrated ninth after set-up changes didn’t work in his favour over one lap.
However, the seven-time world champion remains optimistic about the car’s potential for Saturday evening’s race.
“Very, very tough qualifying session,” said Hamilton. “It's amazing to see how close everyone is. I think George's position is a real testament [to] just how amazing the job is [that] everyone's done at the factory, and [they have] finally given us a car that we can fight with.
“I just wasn't able to utilise that today when I made that set-up change. I put something on the car that we haven't put on for the last two years.
“And I was hoping that it would be okay. And I just stuck with it. I was like, I'm just going to stick with it. And yeah, it wasn't nice to drive."
Asked by Autosport how excited he is compared to 12 months ago – when it was quickly apparent that the W14 was not the step it was expected to be – he admitted that the session had been frustrating given what should have been possible.
"I mean, in this moment, I'm ugh…!” he said. “For the first qualifying session to be as poor as that…so much preparation went into this today, and then it didn't go the way it should.
“But that's racing, but in terms of the season, for sure, to know that we have a package that we can potentially fight with is really pleasing."
Source: Autosport