Why Hamilton could be upbeat regardless of F1 Dutch GP crash

Lewis Hamilton minimize a disconsolate determine even earlier than turning a wheel throughout the Dutch GP weekend, arriving at Ferrari's pre-event press convention along with his coat zipped up round his face, and muttering his monosyllabic responses to questions into it moderately than the microphone.
 
However regardless of this, a pair of apply periods which crew boss Frederic Vasseur described as Ferrari's “worst Friday of the previous three years”, and a race-ending crash, Hamilton was way more upbeat as he ready to depart Zandvoort than when he arrived.
 
Each Ferraris completed Friday's first apply session outdoors the highest 10, over a second and a half off the pacesetting McLaren of Lando Norris. In second apply, they have been nearer however nonetheless almost a second off.
 
After what Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc referred to as “in all probability one of many largest [setup] adjustments of this season from someday to a different”, the Ferrari drivers certified sixth and seventh. Most tellingly, Hamilton's finest Q3 lap was simply 0.050s off Leclerc's: this was a part of qualifying the place he had struggled to string a lap collectively earlier within the season and had usually ended up three or extra tenths off Charles.
 
“I am the sort that is at all times looking for extra, like in all places,” he mentioned after qualifying.
“It is slightly bit within the tyre strain, slightly bit within the blanket temperatures, slightly bit in journey peak, entrance, rear. I am taking a look at every little thing and I feel what's clear is the distinction from the place I used to be earlier than [earlier in the season].”
 
In the course of the race he was working behind former Mercedes team-mate George Russell for sixth when, shortly after the onset of sunshine rain, he put his front-right wheel on the white line on the outer fringe of the banked Flip 3, inflicting a rear-end twitch which despatched his Ferrari onto the painted Aramco emblem on the asphalt boundary. From there, restoration was at all times going to be a protracted shot and he smote the barrier on the exit.
 
Whereas each Ferrari drivers had mentioned they struggled relative to the frontrunners by means of the ‘lengthy', tight Turns 9 and 10, this isn't fairly borne out by information evaluation. In actual fact, on Hamilton's quickest Q3 lap, he shaved over a six-hundredths off his deficit to Oscar Piastri's pole lap between the apexes of 9 and 10.

Most of his time loss got here in Flip 3 and on the exit – he was 0.097s down at Flip 2, 0.422s cresting the rise after the exit of Flip 3. That's the place his Ferrari had been recalcitrant proper from his first push lap in FP1, the place it bought a rear-end twitch as he downshifted beneath braking – and the following time round he spun. The info revealed an RPM spike beneath braking, per the problems Hamilton has been reporting this season.
 
So in that context, maybe it's not shocking that is the nook that bit him as circumstances grew trickier. From lap 17 onwards, he had been steadily reeling in Russell at as much as three tenths of a second per lap earlier than the umbrellas began to go up.
 
“I really feel high-quality mentally,” mentioned Hamilton after the race.
 
“I felt numerous positives. I felt like I used to be making progress. I used to be catching the automobile forward.
 
“It is powerful to have a end result like that, for positive. I have been racing for thus lengthy. I've had God is aware of what number of races in my life. I am in all probability relying on one hand that form of incident.”
 
Vasseur was additionally emphatic that Hamilton's accident was introduced on by being caught out by the circumstances moderately than a insecurity within the automobile.
 
“This was a little bit of a particular one,” he mentioned.
 
“The observe was damp throughout the first drizzle and he [Hamilton] was wider than the lap earlier than. We have to examine if one thing occurred on the automobile, however I do not assume so.
 
“Total the response from Lewis was good; he was as much as the tempo of the automobile and of Charles from the start of the weekend, catching up Russell and preventing with him. It was a superb restoration after two powerful races earlier than the break, however the final result shouldn't be the one anticipated.

“He was quiet Thursday as a result of he'd had two powerful weekends earlier than the break. Friday was extra the automobile than him.
 
“I could be greater than happy with the job accomplished. The tempo right this moment from Lewis was a superb one. He misplaced the automobile, however total the contribution was superb.
 
“Actually, after the race he was rather more constructive than the final 4 or 5 occasions. He was on the tempo, preventing Russell, we recovered from Friday, so the temper was constructive.
 
“He can take lots from the weekend and construct confidence for Monza.”