Lewis Hamilton admitted that the way Ferrari handled their race strategy at the Dutch Grand Prix left him feeling irritated, and he said he would discuss the issue privately after the event. He drew a direct comparison between Ferrari's apparent reluctance to change driver order mid‑race and the way his former team, Mercedes, routinely swaps drivers when the situation calls for it. Hamilton described his Sunday at Zandvoort as "definitely frustrating for me" after he was unable to overtake his teammate George Russell, who was running in third place, during the final laps of the Grand Prix.
The seven‑time world champion's annoyance boiled over on the team radio when he caught up to his fellow Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. Having pitted later than Leclerc, Hamilton was on a set of fresher tyres and initially told the team, "I'm quicker than Charles. These tyres are better." Despite the clear pace advantage, Ferrari chose not to reverse the order of the two cars, prompting Hamilton to cut in on the radio with an unusually sharp remark: "We are just losing time!" When Leclerc eventually made his own pit stop, Hamilton returned to the radio with a sarcastic tone, saying, "A great way of wasting time, guys, good job." The British driver ultimately finished fourth, just behind Russell. Earlier in the race, Mercedes had instructed Russell to allow his teammate Kimi Antonelli to pass when the Italian driver, on significantly newer and faster rubber, caught up to the Briton.
Hamilton noted that this decisive team order was something he had observed and that it contrasted sharply with Ferrari's handling of his own situation. When asked about his blunt radio comments, Hamilton told the Formula 1 press, "I want to win. I want to win. I'm here to win." He added that it was "difficult when you are looking ahead and you see the two Mercedes drivers, they get the call and it's done, and they execute straight away.
They let Kimi by and let him get on with the race. I was on a different strategy and it's not the same here.
That's a little bit difficult but we'll take it offline and when I go back now, I'll speak to them about it." Although Ferrari were out‑qualified by both McLaren and Mercedes in the sprint and the main race at Zandvoort, their longer‑run pace remained competitive, keeping them in the hunt for podium positions. Hamilton, who started the race from fifth on the grid, praised the latest upgrades introduced to the SF‑26 for the first race after the summer break, but he expressed regret that the team could not extract a little more performance on Sunday. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton said, "Firstly, the guys in the garage did a fantastic job.
Pit stops, strategy was generally very, very good. The car felt awesome and they have continued to work so hard. We brought a bit of an upgrade here. We are just chipping away at it all the time.
This first half of the season we have been losing three to five tenths on the straight depending on which track we go to and that's a hard deficit to overcome just through the corners. But we are close." He continued, "But today was definitely frustrating for me. I'm here to win and I really believe that this team can win.
We couldn't win this race but to win championships you have to pick up every point and the last few races have been difficult with penalties and stuff and then, today, I lost several seconds behind Charles which I think ultimately would have made the difference at the end. But we will take it offline. My goal is to try and lead this team to the championship and we've got some work to do for sure." Finishing behind title‑leader Antonelli for the second consecutive race, Hamilton left Zandvoord with a 59‑point deficit to the Mercedes driver in the drivers' championship. The next round of the season will see Formula 1 head to Monza for Ferrari's home Grand Prix from September 4‑6, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1.
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