Hamilton left puzzled by Ferrari pace mystery
Lewis Hamilton was left wondering what went wrong in Sprint Qualifying for the Dutch GP.
ZANDVOORT – Lewis Hamilton has described his Ferrari as a ‘completely different car’ in Sprint Qualifying at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion was only seventh fastest on Friday afternoon despite appearing to have much stronger pace earlier in the day.
Lewis Hamilton left with ‘a completely different car’ in Sprint Qualifying
Hamilton recorded a best lap in the final phase of Sprint Qualifying almost six tenths slower than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, finding just three tenths over his SQ2 best.
By contrast, Leclerc managed to improve by more than half a second to end the session third fastest, barely 0.04s away from pole.
“Not a good, not a good session,” Hamilton explained.
“Unfortunately, this is the way it is. P1 felt good. We made subtle adjustments to the car, but then we got into qualifying.
“It was a completely different car, so need to figure out what went wrong, and then yeah, we’ll do our best tomorrow.”
Blustering conditions proved tricky, with several drivers leaving the road at points, including championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
While there were no such wild moments for Hamilton, it served to highlight the narrow window into which teams were trying to engineer their machinery.
Add into that the changing conditions, with the sun breaking through for Sprint Qualifying compared with the damp track that greeted drivers in opening practice.
“We’ll look at the data and then we’ll make a determination,” Hamilton said when asked if he knew what was needed to get his Ferrari back in the window.
“We’ve just got to go through the data and figure it out.
“Charles was in a slightly different place to me, so a bit closer to where I was. So that’s it.”
Third fastest, Leclerc was far happier with his session than Hamilton.
“I will have preferred to start first, but at the end of the day, I’m very happy about today.
“Honestly, I think it was one of the, if not I think it’s my best qualifying lap this year.
“That means that we are doing something right, also with the feeling.
“It doesn’t mean it stays there, but at least it’s always good steps in the right direction.
“Especially after such a long break, you kind of want that feeling to start the second half.
“So it was a good effort. Unfortunately we just missed pole, but at least we are more or less in the mix.”
More on the Dutch Grand Prix from PlanetF1.com
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Ferrari arrived in Zandvoort with another upgrade package, with five different elements listed on FIA documents.
Those centre on the floor, with changes to the floor body and edge.
The intent was to increase local aerodynamic load, or put more simply add downforce, by working the diffuser at the rear of the car harder.
There were changes to the diffuser to capitalise on that too, along with a minor change to the beam wing designed to work in concert above it.
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