Lewis Hamilton Explains the Domino Effect That Took His Dutch GP Qualifying From Bad to Worse

Lewis Hamilton Believes He Could Have Done Better in Dutch GP if He Started From P4 Like George Russell

Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of Q2 during qualifying for the 2024 Dutch GP. The #44 driver will start from P15 [due to a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez] for Sunday’s race. Talking the media through a “shocking” session, the Briton explained how his bid for pole position at Circuit Zandvoort unraveled.

Sky Sports F1 quoted the Mercedes driver as saying, “It was a pretty shocking session. These things happen and it’s done now but it doesn’t feel good. It all went badly from the moment with [Sergio] Perez happened. I did my best to get out of the way, I was far to the left as possible, but timing was bad. It was a domino effect, it went from bad to worse.” 

Hamilton was referring to his incident with the #11 driver during Q1. Perez was on a fast lap when he encountered the #44 driver’s car at turn 9. Hamilton did try to leave space for the Mexican driver but the latter was left furious as he felt he was impeded by the Briton.

Perez then had to use up a fresh set of soft tires to make it out of Q1 — leaving him with only one set during Q3.

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s final flying effort during Q2 was not good enough for him to progress into the top 10 shootout. Mercedes also experienced a lack of consistency on the W15 between sessions, as far as Hamilton was concerned.

W15 went from bad to worse for Hamilton between Q1 and Q2 during Dutch GP qualifying

Hamilton showed considerable pace during the very first session — even putting in the fastest lap of the session at one point of time. However, as he explained, the balance of the car got worse between Q1 and Q2.

The 39-year-old was quoted on X (formerly Twitter) as saying, “Today was frustrating. We had been looking good throughout the weekend and in Q1, I was pleased with the balance of the car. Unfortunately, we struggled more in Q2, and it slipped through our fingers.”

Team principal, Toto Wolff also concurred with the Briton’s analysis. The Austrian conceded that there was a lack of correlation compared to the car’s balance from Friday. He explained that the W15 was almost on a knife’s edge with both the drivers having difficulty in extracting the maximum from the package.

Post Edited By: Aishwary Gaonkar
Dutch GP Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

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Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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