Lewis Hamilton left Sprint qualifying at the Formula 1 Dutch GP disappointed after finishing seventh, as ‘subtle adjustments’ made the SF-26 feel like a ‘completely different car’.
The seven-time World Champion came back from summer break to a difficult Sprint qualifying. Initially, the sole Free Practice session of the weekend had Hamilton looking solid. The Briton ended the session in fourth before heading into Sprint qualifying a few hours later.
Then came the Sprint qualifying session, where Hamilton finished seventh while teammate Charles Leclerc looked stronger in third. Hamilton found himself over eight tenths behind the Mercedes of pole-sitter George Russell.
After the session, the Ferrari driver explained that he had made ‘subtle adjustments’ to the SF-26 ahead of Sprint qualifying.
“Not a good session, unfortunately, that’s just the way it is,” Hamilton said.
“FP1 felt good. We made subtle adjustments to the car, but when we got into qualifying, it was a completely different car. We need to figure out what went wrong, and we’ll do our best tomorrow.”
Finding improvements after the Sprint
Despite the disappointment of lacking in pace, Hamilton seemed hopeful that he and the Scuderia team could make changes to fix it after the Sprint race. With the new adjustments, he hopes to look more competitive in Saturday’s and Sunday’s showdowns.
Asked whether he knows where he can find improvements for the main Qualifying and the Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver said: “Yes, I think so. We’ll look at the data and then we’ll make a determination.
“But we 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 [in FP1].”
Hamilton’s form has been solid in the first half of the season. Ahead of the F1 summer break, the Ferrari driver said he could bounce back even stronger after the break. Whether he does so remains to be seen as the Dutch GP weekend continues.
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