Hamilton delivers harsh evaluation of Zandvoort F1 weekend

Lewis Hamilton has swiftly shifted his focus onto the Italian Grand Prix following a “shite” weekend from Zandvoort.

The seven-time world champion struggled during qualifying and failed to progress out of the Q2 drop zone before dropping further due to a grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez.

Hamilton progressed a handful of positions in the race but had to settle for eighth place – his worst result since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

The race from Monza will offer Hamilton another outing in front of Italian fans ahead of his switch to Ferrari next year – however the Briton highlighted he is more stirred by the prospect of leaving the Dutch Grand Prix behind.

When asked if he was eagerly awaiting the outing in front of the Italian fans, Hamilton told media including RacingNews365: “I look forward to next weekend because I had a shite weekend this weekend and I’m looking forward.”

Hamilton asserted his car performed better in race conditions compared to over one lap and suggested an alternate strategy could have lifted him one position higher in the order.

“I started on the soft tyre, I think it was a very good tyre, it felt much better than my medium tyre,” he said. “The hard tyre was pretty decent.

“It was really difficult to see what I needed to do, whether to push. I was on a two-stop, so trying to use up the tyre, but I also wasn’t sure whether or not we might possibly go for one [stop].

“Probably, if I’d done one stop and managed to manage a little bit better, I probably could have finished one spot ahead.”