Lewis Hamilton points to Mercedes example after Ferrari strategy frustration

ZANDVOORT – Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari ‘need to discuss offline’ its strategy after he felt he was stuck behind Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton was on the radio asking to be let past his team-mate in order to attack George Russell up ahead but Ferrari’s hesitance to do so led to the Mercedes man holding onto the podium spot.

Lewis Hamilton wants Ferrari talks after strategy hesitation

An unhappy Hamilton was frequently heard in the broadcast radio clips, most notably with him shouting “we’re losing time!” as Ferrari failed to make a decision with their drivers.

Having crossed the line in P4, Hamilton’s frustrations continued as he refuted the suggestion they had been unlucky, saying it was the team’s lack of decision that cost P3.

“We weren’t unlucky,” he said on the team radio. “We lost time earlier on and that cost us P3, and we can discuss it offline.”

After he had stepped out of the car and cooled off, Hamilton was more measured in his description of the event but insisted talks would need to be held behind closed doors on how best to manage situations, highlighting his former team Mercedes as the gold standard.

“It felt like it was the closest opportunity I had,” he said of overtaking Russell. “I think I’d come out 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 them fly past just on power, we’re losing like four tenths 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. I think which ultimately meant I had a bigger distance to cover to try and catch up from George at the end.

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“George wasn’t ahead of him because Charles was on his own, so I think what’s clear is I’m looking ahead and seeing the Mercedes, they execute like that. They got the car. They’re fighting this for the championship and they did it straight away.

“And here I’m sitting back, losing seconds. Something that we need to discuss offline.”

Despite his frustration, Hamilton was keen to stress his pride in the team who have closed the gap to Mercedes.

“I’m definitely really proud of the team for bringing that. They brought an upgrade here this weekend. We are getting closer to them, but you know, we’re just half season we’ve been down in 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.

“It felt nice to [lead the race], 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 I think we obviously got a lot of work to do to try and close the gap to those Mercedes guys.”

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