Hamilton and Russell astonished by Ferrari's performance at Dutch Grand Prix
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell expressed their astonishment at Ferrari's impressive pace and Charles Leclerc's third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Leclerc, who started the race in sixth position, managed to leapfrog both Sergio Pérez and Russell, with McLaren’s Lando Norris securing victory over home favorite Max Verstappen by a margin of 22 seconds on Sunday.
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc's teammate at Ferrari, was eliminated in Q2 on Saturday, qualifying 11th. However, Sainz fought back during the race to finish fifth, just one tenth of a second behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Hamilton faced his own challenges, qualifying 12th before being demoted to 15th due to a grid penalty for impeding Pérez during the session. Reflecting on the race, Hamilton, who is set to join Ferrari next year, said, "I was definitely surprised when I drove through and saw a Ferrari was on P3.
"If I just qualified like I should've qualified, I think I had the pace today to easily be in the top five. I don't know if we were faster than the Ferraris, but there were elements of our pace which were strong. But the car was not great compared to the last race. We had a lot more pace at the last race. Today we were closer to others," Hamilton added.
Russell also shared his surprise regarding Ferrari's performance. The 26-year-old driver had anticipated being comfortably ahead of them after qualifying, with hopes of competing for a podium finish.
"I probably would've finished one, maybe max two places higher but we had no pace, I was just dropping like a stone," Russell admitted. "It was especially a surprise versus Ferrari—we were expecting to be comfortably ahead of them. Charles was quicker, Carlos catching me; clearly, we got something wrong I think with the tyres. After the first couple of laps, I thought we were on course for a probable podium. I knew overtaking was going to be difficult."
Russell also praised McLaren's performance, saying, "I was really shocked at how fast McLaren were; Lando just looked so comfortable out there and it was super impressive to see. We've had six really strong races and then suddenly we've finished almost a minute behind the winner today. So you don't lose all of that performance overnight. Yesterday we qualified fourth and clearly didn't get something right today."
The Dutch Grand Prix results have raised eyebrows and left both Mercedes drivers questioning their performance as they look toward upcoming races with hopes of a stronger showing.
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