Lewis Hamilton made an appeal for Ferrari to review their strategy at the Dutch Grand Prix in Formula 1 after a decision he felt compromised his chances of finishing better last Sunday (23).
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The seven-time champion crossed the finish line in fourth position in Zandvoort, behind the Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell and the winner Lando Norris. Despite the positive result for the team, the Briton left the race frustrated.
Spending most of the 72 laps behind Charles Leclerc, he believed he had the pace to pass the Monegasque, but felt that the Italian team lost valuable time by not asking the competitor to let him through. “It seemed to be the best opportunity I had [to overtake Russell]. I think I would have come out very close to him; I was just activating straight-line mode and using the boost,” he said.
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“I don’t know if we would have managed to pass, because Mercedes is very fast. You saw how they were flying past just on power; we are losing about 0.4 seconds per lap here, just on the straights. So, that was a challenge. But I believe time was lost when I was behind Charles. I think that ended up resulting in a bigger gap to close and try to catch George at the end,” he continued.
“George wasn’t ahead of him because Charles was isolated; so, I think what is clear, looking at Mercedes, is that they execute things this way. They have the car. They are in the championship fight and acted immediately. And here I am, falling behind and losing seconds. It’s something we need to discuss internally,” he concluded.
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