Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton said he “will struggle to make the top-10” in Sunday’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix after a Q2 exit in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Hamilton was riding high coming into the summer break with two wins in the last three races amid Mercedes’ resurgence.
Zandvoort, a tight and twisty circuit with banked sequences of corners and practically just a single straight is not the best place for overtaking.
As a result, Hamilton has a fight on his hands from 12th on the gird for Sunday’s race after a difficult qualifying session, one position behind the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and the rest of his regular rivals well inside the top-10.
“It will be a struggle to get into the top 10,” Hamilton told select media including Motorsport Week after qualifying.
On Friday at Zandvoort, Hamilton posted a respective time in the afternoon FP2 session, the only full dry running of the day to finish third fastest.
However, overnight changes proved costly for qualifying, prompting Hamilton’s early exit.
“[It was] not ideal,” he said.
“We made changes overnight and we couldn’t see [what impact that had] in P3, but it’s the same for everybody. We changed the car quite a lot and it was a nightmare today.”
The changes made to Hamilton’s Mercedes were intended to reduce understeer, an issue the Briton noted was plaguing him during Friday’s running.
However, fine margins in Formula 1 meant the pendulum swung the other way for the seven-time World Champion, with his W15 prone to oversteer on Saturday afternoon.
“The car was massively snappy today,” Hamilton said. “Yesterday was a lot of understeer and then we tried to dial that out and went more the other way.”
Zandvoort is one of just seven Grand Prix circuits where Hamilton has failed to take to the top step of the podium.
After wins at Silverstone and Spa this campaign, perhaps that record could have been broken by the Mercedes driver.
Alas, qualifying has put an end to Hamilton’s victory charge in 2024 and a fight beckons for him at Zandvoort on Sunday.
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