Ferrari confirm they considered leaving Hamilton out at Dutch Grand Prix

Ferrari confirms they considered leaving Lewis Hamilton out in the later stages of the Dutch Grand Prix before the Virtual Safety Car came out.

Feature image credit: Ferrari Media Centre

Ferrari’s Team Principal, Fred Vasseur, has confirmed that the team had considered the option of leaving Hamilton out on the track on his older tyres, despite being caught up by the leaders.

The Scuderia had missed out on a podium finish as their drivers finished fourth and third, just behind the final podium finisher, Mercedes’ George Russell.

During the final Dutch GP, Hamilton had been heated with the Ferrari pit wall.

The first instance came after being held up by his teammate, Charles Leclerc, despite being on fresher tyres having gone for a different tyre strategy. Followed by him being left out on track, swallowed up and quickly overtaken by the race leaders.

“Are you using me as a guinea pig?” That was the frustrated message of Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time world champion was left out on the circuit, in the later stages of the race.

However, Vasseur has confirmed they had – at one stage – considered leaving Hamilton out on the circuit, before the Virtual Safety Car came out. He said:

“The difference between the tyre compounds was very small, which made the strategy difficult to read, and at one stage we considered going to the end with Lewis before the Virtual Safety Car came out.”

Lando Norris takes victory at dramatic final Dutch Grand Prix

Ferrari never really looked to be in a position to threaten for the race victory, with both McLaren and Mercedes showcasing better performance and pace across the penultimate sprint race weekend.

In Sprint Qualifying, Leclerc was the Scuderia’s fastest driver, qualifying third overall with Hamilton down in seventh. On Saturday afternoon, for traditional qualifying, the two Ferraris were more equally matched with Hamilton qualifying fifth ahead of Leclerc in sixth.

Vasseur has cited that their ‘execution’ wasn’t perfect during the race, but claims that the team lacked more in qualifying pace than race pace. He said:

“Our race pace was decent, but our execution was not perfect. We lost the position to Oscar Piastri with Charles at the second start and also had a slow pit stop, so there are areas in which we need to improve if we want to maximise the result in such a tight field.

“Overall, I think what we lacked more this weekend was qualifying pace rather than race pace. We will analyse what we could have done better and make sure we execute a cleaner weekend in Monza.”

Next up is Ferrari’s home race in Monza, for the Italian Grand Prix, which will take place from September 4 to September 6.

Read more Formula 1 here:

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.