Lewis Hamilton has detailed how a “slightly different approach to the weekend” propelled him to an “encouraging” qualifying result at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.
Ferrari had struggled throughout all three practice sessions at Zandvoort, with Charles Leclerc contending that the team was losing eight tenths in two corners alone.
But while Q3 had appeared an uphill task as both drivers required late improvements to avoid an exit in Q1, Hamilton and Leclerc progressed into the top 10 shootout.
Hamilton had possessed the upper hand over his team-mate during the opening two sessions, and that trend continued through the pair’s initial timed attempts in Q3.
Leclerc, though, responded on his final run to nip ahead, winding up a minor 0.050 seconds ahead as the two Ferrari drivers took sixth and seventh places on the grid.
However, Hamilton, who qualified outside the top 10 in the round before the summer break in Hungary as Leclerc logged pole position, was pleased with his progress.
“Yeah, definitely encouraging to at least on my side of the garage to have a better result, as the boys in the garage deserve it, and the team deserves it,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week.
“Happy I could be there or thereabouts, but we’re not where we want to be.
“To be six tenths off, in qualifying on a track like this, that’s a huge amount.
“So we’ve got to understand why that is because Charles is P1 at the last race, but naturally, we do still have that deficit; we’ve had it all year long.”
Hamilton has insisted his reduced gap to Leclerc was no coincidence, citing unspecified changes to how he navigates a race weekend compared to earlier in the year.
“I tried to have a slightly different approach to the weekend,” he explained.
“Not going to go into details of that, but some tweaks, before I even got here, and then through the weekend, and it’s been a lot smoother.
“Yesterday the car was a bit unpredictable and I think we made some changes, maybe the wind makes it a little bit difficult as well.
“But I think we were looking for progress, and I feel like I have had that this weekend. I’ve not been in Q3 for some time, so I am grateful for that.”
How Hamilton has got into better window with Ferrari
The seven-time F1 champion explained that avoiding extensive set-up alterations has helped him to get into a better window with Ferrari’s recalcitrant SF-25 machine.
“As I said, there’s some things I changed which enabled me to start on the right foot, better foot,” he reiterated.
“My first lap yesterday [in FP1] was quickest at the time – then the next lap was a spin, but the car as I said is quite unpredictable.
“We worked well together with the engineers this weekend. It’s not been up and down on changes, it’s been quite stable. We just made small tweaks, really, really small tweaks
“And therefore just been trying to gain more and more confidence in the car. I think that’s what’s happened the last couple of days.”
As he awaits his debut podium with Ferrari, Hamilton is cautious to see whether his positive sensation with the car will translate when it is laden with fuel in race trim.
“It definitely feels like it’s been one of the most solid couple of days so far of the year,” he beamed.
“As I said, that’s to do with some of the improvements of the process, my approach, it’s just a little calmer overall.
“The team did a great job through qualifying, we just need more performance at this track, tomorrow maybe [the] race pace will be better.”
Hamilton urges Ferrari to understand huge McLaren gap
But despite the promise he derived from his own showing, Hamilton has recognised that Ferrari must understand the alarming six-tenths gap to pacesetters McLaren.
“Biggest limit for us, I think is a combination of things,” he added.
“But ultimately we need more load to go through the corners as fast as McLaren.
“Now is that load or is that coming from the tyres, difficult to know, maybe they getting their tyres in a different operating windows to us potentially, or a combination of both.
“I mean McLaren definitely have more downforce than everybody but then they’re not very draggy.
“If we were to match them we’d have to go up a couple of levels of wing but have the efficiency of a lower wing, then it’s a combination of getting the car to be more stable through corner, the wind makes it tricky, tailwind into Turn 1 and crosswind into places, and I think this car is quite sensitive to wind.”
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