Lewis Hamilton confesses ‘bad and shocking’ outing after being knocked out in Q2 at Dutch GP

Lewis Hamilton has not reached Q3 for the third time in the ongoing 2024 Formula 1 season.

Lewis Hamilton confesses ‘bad and shocking’ outing after being knocked out in Q2 at Dutch GP

Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington, image via PlanetF1

Lewis Hamilton scored a massive 65 points in the last three races. Witnessing his massive upturn in form, fans expected the Brit to be at the sharp end at the Dutch GP. However, the Mercedes driver struggled throughout qualifying and was eliminated in Q2, which he later labeled the qualifying session as bad and shocking for him.

Mercedes seemingly found untapped performance in its car after the weekend in Austria. The German marque began snubbing away poles and wins as fans thought that finally, the Brackley-based squad was able to squash its problems. Anyhow, this change in fortune did not last for long as Lewis Hamilton had a torrid qualifying in Zandvoort.

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The 39-year-old had a close call with Sergio Perez in Q1 and then was knocked out in Q2.

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It was a pretty shocking session. These things happen. It doesn't feel good. It went pretty badly on after the incident with Perez. But, I did my best to get out of the way.
Lewis Hamilton said in a post-qualifying interview

Hamilton explained that ever since the incident with Perez, his session spiraled downwards. Despite his valiant tries, he was unable to get out of the relegation zone and salvaged a 12th-place place finish as he deemed the whole session to be a shocking one for him.

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Toto Wolff gives details on why Lewis Hamilton struggled so much around Zandvoort

Hamilton’s struggles in qualifying are not new. He is being dominated by his teammate George Russell in qualifying head-to-head, which has led the paddock to ask some uncomfortable questions to the Mercedes garage. This urged Toto Wolff to jump in and defend his driver from the allegations that the paddock hurled at them.

Mercedes' Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)
Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

The Austrian reckoned that the car had a narrow operating window which disrupted the 39-year-old around the track.

I think the car is on a knives edge. And very difficult to drive. When you have a overheating moment in a corner, it's hard to recover.
Toto Wolff said in a post-qualfiying interview

The 52-year-old claimed that the W15 was on a knife edge. He reckoned that the Brit suffered from overheating. This made it difficult for him to recover from the bad start to the lap as the car became less obedient and started to understeer making him lose heaps of time.

On the other hand, Russell will start the race from P4 tomorrow. Thus, Zandvoort could be a mix of emotions for the Mercedes fans as their one driver will be fighting for a podium while others would have to try to salvage some points out of the weekend.

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