Eliminated in Q2 then penalized, Hamilton considers his weekend already “finished” at Zandvoort

This is the big disappointment of qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton was trapped on Dutch soil on Saturday and was eliminated in Q2. Yet at ease during Free Practice, and with his two victories before the summer break at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, the Briton was one of the favorites for pole position at Zandvoort. However, as in the past, the Mercedes proved to be more capricious during qualifying, especially with the incessant gusts of wind.

His qualifying was first disrupted by an incident in Q1 with Sergio Pérez at turn 9: the Briton hampered the Mexican on his flying lap despite his efforts to stay off the line. The stewards found Lewis Hamilton guilty and gave him a penalty of three places on the starting grid. As if this sanction was not enough, the seven-time world champion missed his Q2: victim of oversteer, he only set the 12th time, far from his teammate George Russell.

Result of the races: the double Grand Prix winner in 2024 will start only 14th this Sunday. A starting position far from ideal on the winding Zandvoort track, where overtaking is difficult. After qualifying, it was a disappointed and already defeated Lewis Hamilton who appeared before the media.

“The situation deteriorated like a domino effect from the incident with Checo [Pérez], explains the 39-year-old pilot. Then the balance became more and more unstable, more and more oversteer, it was terrible. It's very, very frustrating, of course, but that's how it is. It's a bit difficult. It's like our weekend is over and we have to think about next week [at Monza]. »

Mercedes far behind in qualifying

For its part, Toto wolff said that Mercedes “hoped for better” than 12th place for Lewis Hamilton, even if George Russell saved the furniture in Q3 with a 4th place on the starting grid. “If you look at the Free Practices, we were almost always in the top three. And then the car became very sensitive, recognizes the Team Principal of the German team. It was very difficult to hold her all the way around. Lots of understeer, quick oversteer and as soon as you exceeded the temperature thresholds you no longer had performance. That's why we had that weird moment where Lewis collapsed in Q2. George got 4th place, I think he probably did his best, but we are not satisfied with this performance. »

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