SHANGHAI, China -- Lewis Hamilton has played down the significance of his disappointing start to his Ferrari career, saying "it's not a moment to throw the toys out the pram."
After months of hype surrounding his move from Mercedes over the winter, Hamilton finished 10th on his Ferrari debut at last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
At one stage Hamilton led the race, but only by virtue of staying out too long on slick tyres when the rest of the field had pitted for wet-weather intermediates.
"I mean, it wasn't the race that we wanted, but it's not a moment to throw the toys out the pram. It is what it is," Hamilton said.
"One small thing could have made a big difference in the result, but, yeah, we move forward. Everyone's still motivated.
"You've got everyone here with their heads high and I think that the energy is still good in the garage. We're not defined by that, we're not defined by that one race."
One feature of Hamilton's race that was picked up on in the media was his radio communications with new race engineer Riccardo Adami.
After the Australian Grand Prix, team principal Fred Vasseur said the pit wall could "do a better job" with its communications, but Hamilton denied it was a major issue.
"I mean, naturally, everyone over-egged," he said. "It was literally just a back and forth. I was very polite in how I suggested it. I said, 'leave it to me, please.'
"I wasn't swearing. At that point, I was really struggling with the car and I needed full focus on a couple of things. We're getting to know each other. He [Adami] has obviously had two champions or more in the past and there's no issues between us at all.
"Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers -- [they are] far worse! The conversation that Max [Verstappen] has with his engineer over the years, the abuse that poor guy's taken! And you never write about it, but you write about the smallest little discussion I have with mine.
"But ultimately, with us, we're literally just getting to know each other. So afterwards, I'm like, 'hey, bro, I don't need that bit of information.
"'But if you want to give me this, this is the place I'd like to do it. This is how I'm feeling in the car. And at these points, this is when I do and don't need the information.'
"And that's what it's about. There's no issues. It's done with a smiley face and we move forward."
Ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton's former teammate George Russell said McLaren are further ahead this year than Red Bull was at any period of its dominance over the past few years.
But while Hamilton agrees McLaren has the advantage, he said it is too early to suggest the title is lost.
"I can't judge that from one race," he said. "It has only been one race, so, yes, McLaren has done a great job and they're looking very strong, they look very quick on the long runs in testing. The pace in the race and in all conditions, they look fantastic.
"But that's not how we're approaching each weekend. We're still just taking the time to learn the car and to be able to extract more from it. We definitely have work to do, I don't think we're on the pace of the McLarens, but I think we can close the gap."