Lewis Hamilton feels that his pace was strong enough to secure a top-five finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, but his poor qualifying performance hampered his chances. Starting 14th due to penalties, Hamilton made a commendable recovery to finish eighth, just five seconds behind his teammate George Russell, who had qualified in fourth.
Reflecting on his race, Hamilton lamented what might have been had he had a better Saturday but acknowledged that even with a better starting position, it would have been challenging to catch race-winner Lando Norris and the top four.
“If I had qualified as I should have, I definitely had the pace today to be in the top five,” Hamilton stated. “If I had started from fourth, for instance, I would have probably finished at least fourth.”
Starting from the midfield presented challenges for Hamilton, who admitted that while the race was thrilling, a mid-race lock-up affected both his and Mercedes’ strategy. He explained, “We planned for a two-stop strategy, starting on soft tires, which felt better than the medium tires I used in practice. The hard tires were decent, but it was tough to decide whether to push or adjust our strategy.”
Hamilton’s lock-up disrupted his plans, leading him to stick with the original strategy. “If I had managed my tires better and perhaps done a one-stop strategy, I might have finished a spot higher, but it wasn’t meant to be,” he added.
Hamilton also praised Lando Norris’s performance, describing the McLaren driver’s race pace as “insane” and noting his impressive victory margin of nearly 23 seconds over hometown hero Max Verstappen.
