Lewis Hamilton finds positives despite Ferrari’s Dutch GP Qualifying setback

Lewis Hamilton will start the Dutch Grand Prix from fifth, but the Ferrari driver believes the SF-25 is in better shape for the race than Saturday’s qualifying result suggests.

Ferrari’s qualifying pace fades at Zandvoort

That progress was visible during the Dutch Grand Prix Sprint, where Charles Leclerc finished second. The team’s performance in qualifying for the main race was less convincing, however. Ferrari’s earlier pace appeared to disappear, leaving both drivers behind Mercedes and McLaren.

The fluctuation in Ferrari’s performance follows a difficult weekend for Hamilton. In Sprint qualifying, he described the car as a “completely different car” after minor changes. His latest comments, though, suggest that the situation had begun to move in the right direction. Read more about Hamilton’s earlier Zandvoort struggles.

Hamilton rebuilding confidence

Hamilton said the car felt considerably better during the main qualifying session, even if the improvement was not reflected fully by the final classification.

“I was much, much happier with the car. In qualifying, thankfully.”

The seven-time champion explained that confidence is difficult to build when each session changes his understanding of the car. He compared the process to constructing a wall brick by brick, only for that progress to be knocked down after a difficult session.

“When it comes to building confidence, it’s like you put in brick by brick; you’re putting it down, building a wall, knocking down that confidence that I had in FP1, didn’t have it through sprint qualifying, and then I just basically started again building.”

Hamilton nevertheless said the car was much better and that he was excited for the race.

Race pace offers Ferrari hope

Leclerc’s second place in the Sprint provided Ferrari with evidence that its longer-run performance remains competitive. Hamilton acknowledged that his own pace had not been ideal, but said Leclerc’s performance was particularly encouraging.

“I think our race pace was better today. Mine wasn’t great, but Charles’s particularly was good.”

That performance gives Hamilton confidence Ferrari can remain with the cars ahead, even if qualifying has left the team fighting from behind.

“So I think we’ll probably be able to hold on to the guys up ahead, at least.”