Watching Lewis Hamilton in Zandvoort on Saturday felt like a repeat of the season’s opening races. The only exception this time was the W15 was in great form, unlike the initial days. However, the King of F1 couldn’t capitalize on the upgrades. Multiple fumbles and an unwanted incident with Sergio Perez pushed Hamilton out of Q2. Disappointed, the motorsport legend believes he’s done for the weekend. But what happened to Lewis after an outstanding performance before the summer break?

Mercedes had surely planned to keep up with their outcome in the second phase of the 2024 F1 season. Meanwhile, reality smacked them hard, only to make them realize that a few flaws persisted. Surprisingly, Lewis Hamilton always gets to savor the first bitter pill. In the meantime, the ex-Ferrari boss, Peter Windsor, analyzed this matter of concern.

Peter Windsor analyzes Lewis Hamilton’s unfortunate Dutch GP Qualifying fiasco

Referring to the 7x champ as “Poor old Lewis”, the former Ferrari head honcho said that he was looking great throughout the three practice sessions. Even the tricky wet weather couldn’t stop Lewis from ‘flying’ around the track. However, things went downhill in the Qualifiers.

Recalling the fiasco, Peter Windsor said: “But just when it came down to Qualifying, really came down to the crunch in Q2, he couldn’t get a lap. I think that’s part of the knife edgy thing of Mercedes getting the tires to work, getting the right out lap with lots of traffic.”

Toto Wolff’s boys have repeatedly complained about the tires in this season. Sometimes the tires have had fluctuating temperatures, and sometimes the tires weren’t just working out for the drivers. Even the out-lap strategy has been strange, according to Windsor.

“Zandvoort isn’t a circuit where a driver that loves to create short corners if he has to feel and balance, one of them is Lewis Hamilton- always has been,” Peter Windsor added. “He [Hamilton] can’t do very much around Zandvoort, even if the car was really good. There’s not much a driver like Lewis can do to a Mercedes that George Russell can’t do. So that was always going to be relatively difficult for him in that respect.”

The F1 pundit understands that Zandvoort has been an eyesore for the Mercedes No.1 for a while now. So much so, that there’s not much difference between Lewis and George Russell‘s driving. Given that Russell is a comparatively new driver, this is a huge accomplishment for him.

It isn’t difficult to understand that whatever Peter Windsor pointed out is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. There are many sectors Mercedes has to work on. We’ve seen Russell’s last three races end up in disappointment due to technical issues, and if this continues in the second phase, then the team will stray away from the title race. Meanwhile, the stewards handed Lewis Hamilton a grid penalty for his incident with the Red Bull car in Q1. One after the other, the troubles don’t seem to stop!

Hamilton hit with a grid penalty after impeding Sergio Perez

From P12 to P14- the swift fall was the last thing Lewis Hamilton would’ve wanted. Thanks to his unwanted impending incident with Sergio Perez in Q1. The stewards have handed the Briton with a three-place grid penalty for his alleged path-blocking incident, that left Checo fuming. Hamilton was on a cool-down lap, staying as far left as possible and slowed to let Perez pass. However, as Perez moved left to take the racing line into Turn 10, they collided.

Perez angrily complained to his race engineer, “What the f*** is that idiot doing?” Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult session after the incident and failed to advance into Q3, ending the second qualifying segment in 12th place. Soon after the Qualifying session, the stewards summoned Hamilton and unanimously made their decision. P12 itself wasn’t the best place to start the race. Given that Carlos Sainz was supposed to be before Hamilton, overtaking would’ve been anyway difficult. But now that he’s at P14, the situation isn’t favorable at all.

What does the Dutch GP wait to unfold for Mercedes? The race will solve that mystery for us. Meanwhile, Lewis is surely focusing on himself, plotting ways to find his way into the top 10. Scoring points will be the priority as it will keep the team in the competition. Will Hamilton find his pace in Zandvoort today? What do you think?