Lewis Hamilton frustrated: “It’s not normal for me to have accidents like this” | F1 Dutch GP. Lewis Hamilton reflects on his Dutch GP retirement.

F1 | Lewis Hamilton reflects on his Dutch GP retirement

It was not a day to remember for Ferrari, leaving the Netherlands with a double retirement they will hope to redeem next week at Monza, the home Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton ended his race after around twenty laps, crashing into the wall after losing control of his car in Turn 3.

A double retirement is always painful. Ferrari’s Zandvoort weekend can be viewed from two perspectives, not necessarily both negative. In 2023, the Dutch GP marked a turning point for the Scuderia, which learned valuable lessons on a track that was poorly suited to that season’s car. Today, it can instead be seen as a lesson on how to approach a challenging weekend.

Of course, the SF-25’s performance was not outstanding, compounded by the double retirement caused by incidents involving Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Partly, this is also due to the characteristics of the Dutch track, which do not suit this year’s car. During the season, the SF-25 has struggled in high-speed corners that demand significant front-end downforce.

Zandvoort is full of these types of corners, and it is no surprise that Ferrari struggled from the very beginning of the weekend. Their initial setup proved inadequate, forcing the engineers to make adjustments to get the car back on track in an attempt to recover positions against the chasing pack. Partially, the changes achieved the desired effect, as the team managed to get closer, though qualifying performance remained underwhelming.

In the early part of the race, Lewis Hamilton maintained seventh position, with a pace similar to his teammate, who was fifth after overtaking George Russell on the first lap. The British driver also managed to get close to the DRS zone behind his Mercedes compatriot after about twenty laps, but without the margin to attempt an overtake.

However, during that phase, the first drops of rain began to fall. Although Hamilton suggested an undercut strategy to pass Russell, the team decided to continue, prioritizing Leclerc’s pit stop instead, in an attempt to challenge Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls for fourth place.

It was precisely at that moment that the seven-time world champion made a mistake, losing control of the car on the painted sponsor area beyond the white line in Turn 3, likely made more slippery by the rain. The impact with the barriers was inevitable, leaving Hamilton powerless to save the car.

After the race, the British driver did not dwell extensively on his performance, limiting himself to a few words to emphasize how rare incidents like this have been in his career.

“I’m not sure… Until that moment it seemed to be going well, and the pace compared to Charles ahead of me was good. But the rear started to step out, I had a snap in Turn 3, and I couldn’t recover the car. It’s not normal for me to have these kinds of accidents and end up out of the race. I can’t say much more,” Lewis Hamilton explained in post-race interviews.