Lewis Hamilton admits that crashing from the Dutch Grand Prix is a painful way to end what was his and Ferrari’s progress weekend.
The tough race in Hungary saw a downbeat, with Hamilton heading towards a summer break, but he was paced with Charles Leclerc of Zandovrud, qualifying for just 0.05 seconds as a teammate. When he ran behind George Russell early in the race, Hamilton proposed an undercut after Leclair pited, but slipped heavily in turn 3 and hit a barrier, making his first retirement in Ferrari career.
“No, I didn’t want an undercut at that point (not necessarily),” Hamilton said. “We probably said we had to try them out at some point. I wanted to go for a long time so my tires were still in good spirits. I just… yeah, I was totally surprised at what happened.
“Apart from that, it was a really solid weekend, and I feel like I have made progress on my approach and everything.
Hamilton says he’s disappointed that he won’t score points for Ferrari this weekend, but he says he won’t knock confidence because he feels the crash is a rare mistake from his point of view.
“I feel it’s okay,” he said. “I’m sad for the team. Today, I really wanted to get those points for the team, so I felt like I had the pace in the car ahead of me. I wanted to see real progress in racing.
“It feels good mentally. I felt a lot of positives. I felt like I was making progress, I had caught the car first. It’s certainly hard to get that kind of result, but I’ve been racing for a long time.
Teammate Leclerc also had a tough afternoon as he was taken away late in the race by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli.
“That’s a mistake from you,” Leclerc said. “I think you have to pass with a truck like this and be very aggressive. I think he was offensive. Maybe it was a little too much. He touched my left rear.
“I wouldn’t explain the rookie’s mistake. I think that’s a mistake that could happen in your first or fifth year. As it’s been repeated, you have to be offensive on a track like this, but that’s too much.”