Lewis Hamilton has hit out at Ferrari team orders at the Dutch Grand Prix, saying the delay in moving Charles Leclerc aside at Zandvoort on Sunday may have cost him a podium. Hamilton finished fourth, 0.849 seconds behind George Russell’s Mercedes, in a race won by Lando Norris.
Having passed Oscar Piastri for fifth on lap 35, Hamilton caught a slower Leclerc with a significant tyre advantage and asked to be released. Ferrari called Leclerc in, the Monegasque resisted, and he was left out a further lap before pitting on lap 43. “Great way of wasting time, guys. Great job,” Hamilton said on the radio. Mercedes, by contrast, swapped its cars with seven laps left, waving Russell aside so championship leader Kimi Antonelli could chase Norris.
Why Hamilton wanted Ferrari team orders sooner
“I want to win. I’m here to win and it is difficult when you’re looking ahead and you see the two Mercedes drivers, they get the call and it’s done — they execute straight away,” Hamilton told F1 TV, as reported by Motorsport.com. “We’ll take it offline, and when I go back now, I’ll speak to them about it.”
He told BBC Sport the afternoon was “definitely frustrating”, adding: “Today I lost several seconds behind Charles, which I think ultimately could have made the difference in the end. My goal is to try and lead this team to the championship.”
The result drops Hamilton to third in the standings, with Russell reclaiming second and Antonelli 59 points clear of the Ferrari driver. It caps a bruising summer of self-inflicted losses for the Scuderia. Hamilton says the conversation will happen privately; the standings suggest it needs to happen quickly.
