The F1 Dutch GP weekend was not the kindest to Lewis Hamilton so far, yet his performance and P7 result in Qualifying keeps him hopeful. Returning to Formula 1 after the summer break, Hamilton faced plenty of disappointments during Friday’s FP sessions following two spins.
Nevertheless, he powered through, and changes helped the Brit recover some confidence.
While this 2025 season is just at its halfway mark, Lewis Hamilton has already dealt with a lot of letdowns and frustrations. The switch to Scuderia Ferrari came with intensive learning, and his results do showcase that. Despite his issues with his new team, he is P6 in the overall standings, with a total of 109 points. The climb back to the top of the leaderboard is steep, yet Hamilton perseveres.
The learning curve at Zandvoort
Coming back after his summer break, Lewis Hamilton was met with a few of the SF-25’s weaknesses this weekend. While his Qualifying proved to be quite fruitful, the first sessions of Hamilton’s F1 Dutch GP were the opposite. Although his teammate, Charles Leclerc, is also facing the same issues, the Scuderia could not seem to figure out a solution.
On the other hand, Hamilton did notice some progress compared to Friday’s FPs. In the print media pen, the 7-time world champion revealed a personal alternative strategy in regards to his GP weekend approach.
“Yeah, I tried to have a slight different approach into the weekend. I’m not going to detail to what that is, but did some tweaks before I even got here. And then through the weekend, it’s been a lot smoother,” admitted Hamilton, seemingly pleased with this secret method of his.
“Yesterday the car was a bit unpredictable, and I think we made some changes, and it makes it a little bit difficult as well. But I think we’re looking at progress, and I feel like I have had that this weekend. I’ve not been in the Q3 for some time, so I’m grateful for that.”
Encouraging result for Ferrari
Despite his teammate’s disappointment, the Briton was pleased with this result. As Hamilton mentioned, this Dutch GP was the first time in a while that he entered Q3 during a Qualifying, his first appearance since Silverstone. Confessing to a certain confidence, this progress brought not only Hamilton, but also his garage, great motivation.
“Yes, definitely encouraging to, at least on my side of the garage, to have a better result. Because the boys in the garage deserve it and the team deserve it. Happy I could be there or thereabouts but of course we’re not where we want to be.”
Nonetheless, the 7-time world champion had to make his disappointment clear. Pointing out that even his teammate struggled immensely, Hamilton acknowledged Ferrari’s general lack of pace.
“Six and a half tenths off, seven-tenths off, six-tenths off. On a track like this, that’s a huge amount. So we’ve got to try and understand why that is, because Charles [Leclerc] was P1 in the last race.”
Gaining confidence in the SF-25
Compared to the start of the year, when expectations were running high and the failures seemed endless, Hamilton recovered significantly. Even if he is not completely where he wants to be in terms of performance, the 7-time world champion did grow more confident.
“Yeah, as I said, there’s some things I’ve changed on the way in, which enable me to start on the right foot. On a better foot. You saw my first lap yesterday; it was a bit difficult at the time. But then, the next lap was a spin.”
Coming into the F1 Dutch GP with this switch in approach, and especially after making up lost ground in Qualifying, Hamilton spoke of the teamwork and set-up changes that helped. The weak points of the SF-25 make it quite “complicated”. Yet, the Briton believes the communication with the engineers was ideal in the attempt to fix these issues.
“The car, as I said, is quite complicated. But I think the set-up change, I think we really worked well together with the engineers this weekend. There’s not been ups and downs, changes. It’s been quite stable. We just made small tweaks, really, really small tweaks. Therefore, we’ve been able trying to gain more and more confidence in the car. And I think that’s what’s happened the past couple of days.”
Sunday’s race strategy
Thanks to Ferrari being able to recover lost ground this Saturday, Hamilton and Leclerc will start next to each other. After qualifying P6 and P7 for the F1 Dutch GP, Hamilton will begin his attack from behind his teammate. However, this advantageous starting position could prove to be Ferrari’s saving grace.
Taking this starting grid into account, Hamilton shared a few thoughts about potential strategy calls for tomorrow. While there were no decisions yet made for the race, the Briton was considering splitting strategies with Leclerc. With an ambitious target of going after McLaren, Hamilton remained hopeful.
“I don’t know. I think it would be smart to split strategies, given that we’re trying to beat McLaren. It’s definitely good when you have the two drivers next to each other. Apart from McLaren, we are the next team that has two drivers next to each other. Hopefully, that can play a role in how we overcut and undercut the cars up ahead of us, potentially.”
