Lewis Hamilton blasts ‘shocking’ Dutch GP qualifying as Brit suffers embarrassing result
Lewis Hamilton endured a qualifying session to forget at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton described his Dutch Grand Prix qualifying session as 'pretty shocking'. The seven-time world champion was only 12th fastest in Q2 following a disappointing final run.
Hamilton headed into the weekend with plenty of momentum. The Brit won two of the final three Grands Prix before the summer break as Mercedes continue their long-awaited revival.
Unfortunately, the Silver Arrows were only the third-fastest team in qualifying on Saturday, and Hamilton demonstrated much less confidence than team-mate George Russell.
Heading into the final Q2 runs, Hamilton dropped into the bottom five and after struggling to get his W15 under control, the 39-year-old couldn't improve enough before the chequered flag, only moving up to P11, before Charles Leclerc dropped him down another position.
Assessing his performance with Sky Sports F1, Hamilton said: "It was a pretty shocking session. You know, these things happen, what can I say? It's done now, definitely doesn't feel good.
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"It all went badly from the moment that the situation with Perez happened and I did my best to get out of the way, I was as far to the left as possible, but just [the] timing was bad."
That incident could pile more misery onto Hamilton. The legendary Brit was summoned to the stewards with pundit Anthony Davidson predicting that he would pick up a grid penalty for the block.
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While Hamilton's afternoon was one to forget, his team-mate enjoyed more success. George Russell eventually qualified in P4, behind the two McLarens and Max Verstappen, but demonstrated plenty of pace throughout.
The 26-year-old was fighting with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during Q2 but didn't quite have the pace to battle for pole position when Q3 came to a close.