Hamilton reveals two-stop was not original plan of Dutch GP recovery drive

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton recovered to the points at the Dutch Grand Prix but the seven-time world champion revealed his two-stop strategy wasn’t part of the original plan.

Hamilton had a tough weekend which compounded on Saturday by a 12th-place qualifying position – exiting Q2 in the process – and an impeding offence on Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, dropping him three more positions. 

Despite this, plus a one-place promotion on the grid following Alexander Albon’s disqualification, Hamilton put in a decent recovery drive in Zandvoort to leave the seaside circuit with points. 

Hamilton deemed the race as damage limitation as he started from 14th on the grid. Still, the multiple world champion slowly filtered up the field by utilising the soft tyres as part of in his opening stint.

“We knew today was all about damage limitation,” Hamilton said. “We managed to work our way back into the points but ultimately, we didn’t have the pace to fight for much more today. 

“If we had qualified better yesterday, than it may have been a little different. I enjoyed getting past several cars though and putting the Soft tyre to use in that opening stint. 

“It felt good to move forwards but I’m a little disappointed as if we had a better Saturday, then the fight would have been for more points.”  

Overall, Hamilton opted for a two-stop strategy to get him from 14th on the grid to eighth by the time the chequered flag fell – won by McLaren’s Lando Norris. 

He pitted first on lap 23 to swap onto a set of hard tyres before he pit for the final time on lap 48 of 72, reverting onto the soft tyres.

However, Hamilton revealed that the two-stop strategy wasn’t the original strategy for the Stevenage-born driver. He was originally meant to stay on the one-stop, completing a soft/hard strategy, but a lock-up on the harder compound brought the two-stop into play.

“Strategy-wise, we were looking at running to the end on the one-stop,” continued Hamilton. “I had a lock-up on the Hard tyre though and that meant we switched to the two-stop. It was a shame to lose the point for the fastest lap at the end, but I should have put in a quicker effort earlier on.”

His eighth-place finish at Zandvoort, one position behind his teammate George Russell, means Hamilton remains sixth overall in the driver’s championship on 154 points in between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (5th) and Perez (7th). 

The Italian Grand Prix is next at the iconic Autodromo Nazionale Monza, this weekend, for round 16 of the 2024 F1 world championship.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Lando Norris wins Dutch GP by 22 seconds over Max Verstappen
• F1 Tyre Strategies: one-stop to be the preferred option for Dutch GP
• Albon disqualified for technical infringement following Dutch GP post-qualifying checks
• Hamilton given three-place grid penalty for impeding Perez at Dutch GP
• Norris denies Verstappen fourth consecutive Dutch GP pole position
• Russell pips Piastri by 0.061s in dry Dutch GP FP2 session

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.