Lewis Hamilton lamented being “slow” in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix as he slumped to a surprise Q2 exit.
The Briton was unable to post a lap time good enough to escape the drop zone in the second stage of qualifying, eventually being shuffled down to 13th place.
While the track continued to dry throughout the session, Hamilton ruled out that the changing conditions played a part in the troubles he experienced, underlining that he simply lacked the speed to progress to Q3.
“It wasn’t difficult to judge,” he admitted. “Obviously a lot of people in the way but generally I was just slow.”
Replays later showed that Hamilton had been impeded by Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri towards the end of his final flying lap.
However, the seven-time World Champion refused to blame the incident for his failure to reach the pole position shootout.
“It didn’t make any difference,” he said regarding Tsunoda’s alleged block.
“There was a few of the others that got in the way on the previous laps. Tsunoda, he was in the way a little bit, but it didn’t lose me time. I was just slow today.”
Having been buoyed by a positive Friday, Hamilton explains that he had been struggling to rediscover the same positive feeling he had on the opening day.
When asked if the conditions had a negative impact on his performance, Hamilton responded: “I really don’t know, honestly.
“The car didn’t feel too great after P2. It felt great in P1 and I’ve just not had that feeling ever since. So I’m not really sure what it is.”
With Hamilton now resigned to starting down the order at a Zandvoort circuit that is notoriously difficult to overtake on, he is expecting a tough race tomorrow.
Questioned if he was feeling confident about his prospects of turning it around on Sunday, Hamilton despondently replied: “No.
The car has just been difficult. I’ll try and turn the negative from today into a positive tomorrow.”
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