Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): Heart rate at 170! “We need to step it up a gear!”

Lewis Hamilton narrowly missed out on the podium at Zandvoort. The Ferrari driver was among the frontrunners for much of the race and thought he had a good chance of a podium finish. In the end, however, he could only manage fourth place. After the Grand Prix, Hamilton remarked: “There’s one thing I’m definitely really proud of: that the team managed to roll out the upgrade this weekend.”

Half a season with a performance deficit

This brought Hamilton and Ferrari closer to the competition – even if it didn’t translate into a podium finish at Zandvoort. Hamilton: “We’re getting closer to them, but for half the season we’ve been behind them in terms of performance. We absolutely must improve our performance if we are to keep up with them even remotely and make up the deficit.”

Hamilton now third in the World Championship

There were indeed some significant changes in the World Championship standings over the Zandvoort weekend. With his sprint victory and third place in the Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell has made up a lot of ground. He is now level with Hamilton on 183 points. However, because Russell has won two Grand Prix races (Melbourne and Spielberg), whilst Hamilton has won only one (Barcelona), Russell is now back in second place in the World Championship – ahead of Hamilton in third. Both are 59 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton: “We’re obviously in a completely different situation to in the past, particularly compared to last year. We’re still in second place in the Constructors’ Championship. We can take a lot of positives from the first half of the season. We really need to step it up a gear in the next few races if we’re to have any chance of beating these lads.”

Hamilton briefly led the field

Still, after the top drivers (with the exception of Hamilton) had all pitted for a tyre change by lap 22, the Briton was out in front and was officially listed as the new leader, even if that wasn’t the whole truth, of course. Hamilton said after the race: “That felt good. Seeing those lads catching up was a bit like: ‘Bloody hell.’ I thought to myself: ‘Can I finish the race in this position?’ But unfortunately, they caught up so quickly.” On lap 54, Hamilton was overtaken first by Lando Norris and then by Kimi Antonelli, before pitting.

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When asked why he’d sounded agitated over the radio during discussions about swapping positions with his team-mate, Hamilton replied coolly after the race: “Of course. My heart rate’s at 170 and I’m trying to win.” So Hamilton was really under pressure.