An unfortunate turn of events put an early stop to Lewis Hamilton’s race at the F1 Dutch GP. The Ferrari driver gave it his all this weekend, and he went into Sunday quite positive and hopeful. However, while he was driving quite a promising race, a crash into the barriers destroyed his right front tyre suspension.
The incident took place as Hamilton was making his way into a damp Turn 3. While he went up the bank, he lost control of the rear of his car. This caused a bit of oversteer, which he corrected, yet the narrow nature of that corner saw him smash his front right into the tyre barrier. Unfortunately for him, this marks Lewis Hamilton’s first DNF with the Scuderia since his switch at the beginning of the season.
His overview of the crash
During lap 23 of the F1 Dutch GP, Hamilton found himself crashing out of the Zandvoort race. Throughout the moments just before the incident, the Briton was on the radio, calling for an undercut. The rain was coming down lightly as the 7-time world champion was in seventh. Due to the moisture on the track, his SF-25 wobbled as it touched the painted surface of Turn 3.
After this disappointing early finish, Hamilton went on to explain why exactly he was asking for another pit stop in the first place. Especially since he stated a couple of laps ago that his tyres felt good, that radio message seemed strange.
“No, I didn’t really want the undercut, necessarily, at that time. I was just saying that we would have to try an undercut at some point,” clarified the Ferrari driver, in response to a question he received in the print media pen.
Furthermore, according to the Brit, he was not expecting such an incident. This was the first DNF of the race, which ended up triggering a Safety Car in order to remove his SF-25.
“Yeah, I wanted to go along. And so, my tyres were still feeling good. It took me by complete surprise what just happened there. I lost the rear end up the banking.”
The positives of the weekend
The strange circumstances of this crash took the 7-time world champion and his team by surprise. After Saturday’s Qualifying, Hamilton appeared to recover some confidence in the SF-25 ahead of the F1 Dutch GP. Nevertheless, the Briton admitted that this first weekend after the summer break did prove to him that he is on the right track.
“Apart from that, it’s been a really solid weekend. I feel like I’ve made progress, just overall, in my approach and everything. And so, to come away with that, it’s definitely painful.”
Making a step forward towards putting himself in contention for top 5 again, Hamilton was ready to bring home some points. Yet, the Turn 3 incident left him disappointed and disheartened:
“I mean, I feel okay. I feel okay. Yeah, I’m sad for the team, as I said. Because I really wanted to get those points for the team today. And I honestly felt like I had the pace of the cars ahead of me. So, I was hoping to see real progress in the race. And then, that happened at the wrong time.”
Recovering from a tough DNF
Seeing as he is currently in P6 in the Drivers’ Championship, this result left a sour taste. Particularly after he got his hopes up for this weekend’s race. After the crash, Hamilton acknowledged he was hoping to rejoin the F1 Dutch GP. Yet, the damage was greater than he wished.
“I was hoping to save it, but I didn’t.”
Moreover, his dismay was obvious in his post-crash radio message to his engineer and team. Hamilton apologised for the crash, which effectively damaged Leclerc’s race as well, as he had just pitted a lap earlier.
Nonetheless, Lewis Hamilton does not give up so easily. Even if this was one of his worst crashes in recent years, he showcased the exact race-winning mentality that saw him win 7 world championships:
“No, I’ll be fine tomorrow. I’ll get back on it next week.”
Similarities between Zandvoort and Monaco
It is a recurring belief that the F1 Dutch GP circuit shares some common elements with the Monte Carlo track. When taking into account the tight, narrow, and unforgiving layout and the lack of overtaking opportunities, those two do match up.
However, comparing the two from his race perspective, the Ferrari driver disagrees. Giving out great praise to the F1 Dutch GP and its circuit, Hamilton shared his appreciation:
“It’s so much different. It’s a beautiful track in Zandvoort. We’ve got a great crowd here. It’s amazing to drive this track. I can’t take anything from that. It’s obviously difficult for these cars to follow. So, the overtaking is not too great here. It’s a beautiful track to drive. It’s one that all the drivers like.”
