© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says had Mercedes “made the right call” at the Dutch Grand Prix, “we had the pace to be challenging the top two”.
Lewis Hamilton started the Dutch Grand Prix from P13, but he ultimately managed to finish in P6.
However, Lewis believes Mercedes’ slow calls for tyre compound changes in changing weather conditions, prevented the team from being able to fight for top spots.
“I feel really good,” he told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“I didn’t really know how it was going to go naturally. And I sat here last night just really racking my brain like ‘where did we go wrong and how do we end up in this position?’
“Then I was just working on trying to figure out how I can progress. I was the only one on the Medium tyre and I wanted to be offset to the people around me, not everyone on the grid.
“When that rain then came out, we as a team made the wrong decision. Ultimately, it was the team’s call and we paid the price for that.
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“But then we came out last and I think after that just was just chasing, kept my head down.”
Lewis then gave his comments on his progression through the field.
“I was really happy, I got past the McLaren [of Lando Norris] on this track which is not so easy to do and I was quicker than Sainz at the end, just needed to get DRS.
“I think the pace in those conditions, if we’ve made the right call we had the pace to be challenging the top two.
“We would have been challenging Max, to be honest. Particularly when we got to the dry. I mean, pace-wise, I think we weren’t terribly far off.
“Not saying that we would have beat them, but it’s nice to think that way,” Hamilton concluded.
