Lewis Hamilton frustrated with “completely different car” after Ferrari set-up tweaks in F1 Dutch GP sprint qualifying
Lewis Hamilton was left to rue a frustrating sprint qualifying at Zandvoort.
Lewis Hamilton says he and Ferrari need to “figure out what went wrong” after a disappointing sprint qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion could only take seventh in qualifying for the sprint race at Zandvoort and ended up half a second behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was third in the other Ferrari.
Hamilton revealed he made “subtle adjustments” to his SF-26, which features a revised floor, between Friday’s sole practice session and sprint qualifying.
“Not a good session, unfortunately, this is the way it is,” Hamilton, who showed early promising pace at Zandvoort, acknowledged.
“P1 felt good. We made subtle adjustments to the car, but when we got into qualifying it was a completely different car, so we need to figure out what went wrong and then we’ll do our best tomorrow.
“We’ll look at the data and then we’ll make a determination. We’ve just got to go through the data and figure it out. Charles was in a slightly different place to me, a bit closer to where I was, so that’s it.”
Hamilton did not get ideal tyre preparation ahead of his one and only SQ3 attempt, having come across Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi on his warm-up lap.
As Hamilton implied, Leclerc was in a much happier place with his Ferrari and described his effort for P3 as his “best qualifying lap” of the season so far.
“It was my best qualifying lap this year and it means we are doing something right with the feeling,” the Monegasque said.
“It doesn’t mean it stays forever but it’s always good steps in the right direction, especially after such a long break. So a good effort. Unfortunately we just missed pole but we are more or less in the mix.”
Hamilton trails Andrea Kimi Antonelli by 50 points in the world championship with George Russell a further nine points adrift.
Russell will start Saturday’s 24-lap sprint race from pole with Antonelli only fifth. Points are awarded to the top eight finishers.
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