RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Lewis Hamilton throws light on how Mercedes operate and what Ferrari can learn after team orders drama in F1 Dutch GP, but praises their work.
Not often that Hamilton is heard shouting on the radio as he did in F1 Dutch GP at Circuit Zandvoort. After getting through the double start due to crash of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the Ferrari driver found himself on the back of the leading cars, even teammate Charles Leclerc .
They started on the soft tyre and went long, hoping for some intervention but it didn’t arrive until the second part. Ferrari changed strategies as Hamilton moved to the hard compound, while Leclerc to medium. But still they found each other close on track, especially in the second last stint.
Hamilton with radio onslaught
Hamilton urged Ferrari to let him through in order to catch Mercedes’ George Russell for the podium, when the Brit pitted. “I’m quicker than Charles. Tyres are better,” he quipped on the radio. But Leclerc didn’t budge, even though the team asked him to pit couple of times to move out of the way.
Hamilton upped his volume, which not a common thing. “We are just losing time,” he shouted to Carlo Santi. After Leclerc eventually pitted, the Brit didn’t end his sarcasm. “Great way of wasting time guys, good job,” he summed up, having lost chunk of time and tyre.
He defended his radio messages, noting that he didn’t swear. And whatever agitation, it was just the heat of the moment thing, with the will to win the F1 Dutch GP. Having said so, Hamilton praised his team for bringing the updates, citing the lack of power which is hurting them.
Hamilton defends radio call, also defends Ferrari
“I didn’t have any colorful language,” said Hamilton to media. “I don’t think I said any swear words or anything. Of course, my heart rate’s 170, yeah. I’m trying to win. But the one thing, I’m definitely really proud of the team for bringing…they brought an upgrade here this weekend.
“We are getting closer to them, but it’s a tough season. We’ve been down on power, so we really need to pick up the power if we’re going to be anywhere near trying to fight for them, closing the gap to them,” summed up Hamilton, who expanded on why he was pushing to get ahead.
Hamilton shows what Ferrari can learn from Mercedes
He cited the example of Mercedes, how they were clear in execution in the end in allowing Andrea Kimi Atonelli through on Russell, without much waiting. That helped the Mercedes driver to defend third in the end, having not lost a ton of time or tyre by fighting among themselves.
This is one aspect he feels is missing at Ferrari, which he noted that he will discuss. “It felt like that was the closest opportunity I had [on the last lap to pass Russell],” started Hamilton. “I think I come out from T14 pretty close to him, and I was just opening SM and just getting on the boost.
“I don’t know whether or not we would have got by, because the Mercedes is just so quick. You saw the McLaren fly past on power. We’re losing like 4 tenths of a lap here just on straight lines. So that was a challenge but I do think the time was lost when I was behind Charles and I think which ultimately meant I had a bigger distance to cover to try and catch up from George at the end.
“[And] no George wasn’t ahead of him. Charles was on his own, so, yeah. I think what’s clear is I’m looking ahead and seeing Mercedes, they execute like that. They’ve got the car that’s fighting for the championship in the lead, and they did it straight away. And here, I’m sitting back losing seconds – something that we need to discuss after,” summed up Hamilton.
Hamilton wanted F1 Dutch GP to end when he was leading
Coming into the weekend, Hamilton wanted to add a Dutch GP win on his F1 list. He got the chance to lead at one point, but it was only due to strategy. With no more races in Zandvoort for the foreseeable future, he will have to wait for a quick addition or end his career without a win in Netherlands.
“Yeah, it wasn’t really in the lead,” said Hamilton. “I was in the lead just because no one else had stopped, so…yeah. Okay, well, yeah, for sure. It felt nice to [lead], but seeing these guys catching, it was kind of, ‘Damn it’. I was like, ‘Can I finish the race in this position?’ But they were catching so fast, unfortunately, so, yeah. I think we’ve obviously got a lot of work to do to try and close the gap to these Mercedes cars.”
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