Just hours after looking like Ferrari’s fastest driver on Friday, Lewis Hamilton was left confused by how things unravelled so quickly. During the sole practice session, he seemed to have an edge over his teammate, Charles Leclerc, only for it to disappear during the sprint qualifying. 

During FP1 just hours before the Sprint qualifying, Hamilton qualified in fourth place just 0.190s ahead of his teammate. However, when it came time for the sprint qualifying, it was a whole different ballgame altogether as the seven-time world champion seemed to struggle throughout the sprint. 

But the most notable struggle was during SQ 3 as he qualified in seventh place. After qualifying, while speaking to the media, the seven-time world champion said that changes to the setup made it feel like a different car. 

"It was not a good session, unfortunately," Hamilton said during the interview as reported by Formula One. "This is the way it is. FP1 felt good. We made subtle adjustments to the car, but when we got into qualifying, it was a completely different car." 

While Hamilton could not pinpoint the exact place where things went wrong for his side of the garage, he was confident that the answer was in the data. He further spoke about how his car setup was further off as compared to Leclerc’s. 

"We need to figure out what went wrong, and then we'll do our best tomorrow. We've just got to go through the data and figure it out. Charles was in a slightly different place than me, so a bit closer to where I was." 

During the sprint race, he managed to finish seventh, scoring more valuable points towards his push for the drivers' championship, as he trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 53 points. 

Lewis Hamilton 'happier'  with car setup after qualifying for the main race

While Hamilton expressed his lack of confidence in the car after the sprint, he breathed a sigh of relief after qualifying for the race on Sunday, as he qualified in P5. 

While talking to the media post-race, he expressed his satisfaction with the way the car felt underneath him. 

"I’m so much happier with the car, honestly," Lewis Hamilton said in an interview put out by Formula One.  "It’s crazy. We changed a lot of things, but it doesn’t really look that big. But the difference it makes in the car is unbelievable."

He further spoke about how he had no confidence in the car throughout the sprint sessions, but things seemed to look up during the qualifying for the main race. 

"Then I go into Qualifying, and the car is there… the balance is there at least, so I was building and building and building. Some more laps and I think we could have probably done better, but I think ultimately the tyres were the issue for us."

Despite the rocky start to his Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton’s turnaround during qualifying has left him hopeful about carrying the momentum into the race on Sunday.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco