“It takes just one race to change the fans’ impression of you” – this quote was, perhaps, written for Lewis Hamilton’s 2024 F1 campaign. The Briton left room for no hope from his fans as he entered the current season with a 2-year-long Grand Prix victory drought. However, his iconic win at the British GP in front of his parents made his comeback one of the most marvelous ones in F1 history. Almost overnight, fans’ perception of Lewis’ current form made a 180° turn as they began to visualize him as a serious Championship contender. But now, those high hopes seem to have fallen face-first after the 39-year-old failed to step into Q3 at the Dutch GP Qualifying.

After Hamilton’s roaring race win at Silverstone, he regularly aimed for podium finishes in almost all the Grands Prix leading up to the Belgian GP. As it was the last race before the summer break, Lewis Hamilton gave his all to winning the Belgian Grand Prix and he came out victorious. But it seems like he could not carry that winning form into the second half of the 2024 season. As the Mercedes man climbed into the cockpit of his W15 for the first time since the end of the summer holidays, he failed miserably in his attempt at impressing the fans.

The Free Practice sessions in Zandvoort reaped so-so results for Hamilton as he came in P3 in the first two rounds. And Logan Sargeant’s crash halted the third Free Practice session when he was running 15th. With the experience of the FPs backing him up, Lewis went into the Qualifying Session for the Dutch GP with fresh hopes. However, the results did not favor the seven-time World Champion as he saw an early exit at P12.

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Heartbroken to see Lewis back in the mid-positions of the grid after weeks of racing for the podium, fans took to Reddit to air their views. While some of them blamed the Silver Arrows racer for not performing up to their expectations, a few also pointed fingers at his team for not helping him.

Allegations against Mercedes resurface after Lewis Hamilton’s Zandvoort Quali performance

Not every Grand Prix outing for an F1 driver can be a perfect one, even if the racer in question is Lewis Hamilton. But he had given rise to too many budding hopes in the minds of his fans after bagging two race victories and 4 podiums this season. Thus, when he claimed the twelfth position in the Quali ahead of the Dutch GP, the followers of the #7 racer vented their feelings on Reddit.

The start to 2024 was not a healthy one for Mercedes as both Lewis and George lagged behind in the first few races of the season. While Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as well as the two Ferraris displayed a flying form, the Silver Arrows recruits were fighting to stay in the points. But the Canadian GP proved to be a turning point as Russell and Hamilton claimed P3 and P4 finishes. From there, both of them got race victories and multiple podium finishes too. But now, Hamilton’s P12 has made fans lose hope of him getting into the top 3 in Zandvoort. So, one of them said, “Well, it was good will it lasted.”

For any true-blue Hamiltonian, it would be excruciating to see their favorite racer get eliminated in Q2 after a series of positive results. So, when Lewis Hamilton had sailes into the summer break with a Belgian GP victory, his fans thought that was the end of his disappointing results. However, now that Lewis is back after the summer break, he put up a poor performance once again and left the Dutch GP Qualifying with a P12 spot on the starting grid. So, a user wrote on Reddit, “Lewis my guy I thought we were done with these Q2 shockers.” The last time Hamilton got eliminated in Q2 at one of the Qualis, was the Chinese GP 2024, which took place in April.

But for some fans, the game for Lewis Hamilton is not over until it’s over. So, despite the British star getting a P12 start to Sunday’s Dutch GP, those optimistic people believe he can overtake all the rivals ahead of him to get a podium finish. So, they remarked, “It’s alright, he’s shown a strong race pace around Zandvoort, should still be an entertaining race.” Backing these words, several statistics show Lewis Hamilton is indeed one of the most successful participants of the Dutch GP. In 2021, Hamilton earned the second spot in the race at Zandvoort, while in 2022 and 2023, he was 4th and 6th respectively.

While some loyal Lewis lovers want to keep hoping for a podium despite all circumstances, there are others who feel such a wish is more like a delusion. Lewis Hamilton himself gave a grave verdict about his chances of faring well at tomorrow’s Dutch GP during the post-quali interviews. He said, “It’s definitely very, very frustrating, naturally, but this is what it is. That’s kind of hard. It’s kind of the weekend done and we have to move on to next week.” So, Lewis seems to have already written off his weekend in Zandvoort to focus on the next week’s race. Still, another fan hoped for a miracle and criticized that dream in a single comment: “P12 to P1 tomorrow (delusion).”

Now, Mercedes faced allegations they were sabotaging Lewis Hamilton’s races earlier this season. Before the Briton scored his race wins, an anonymous letter had allegedly claimed the Silver Arrows were trying tricks to reduce Hamilton’s chances of winning races. But those died down as Lewis showed he could still attain victory with Mercedes. However, now that the Dutch GP Quali showed poor results from Lewis, some critics blamed his team, saying, “Splitting strategies and giving LH high downforce was pretty f***ed, Merc.” In truth, there were some points where Hamilton’s W15 looked less in control because, perhaps, it had more downforce than Russell’s car.

So, Lewis Hamilton’s P12 start tomorrow will have everyone’s eyes stuck to the middle-order battles by the Brit’s Mercedes. But do you think Lewis can move up into the podiums after today’s display in Zandvoort? Share in the comments.