Lewis Hamilton was surprisingly upbeat in his post-race interview after a disappointing performance in qualifying for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The Englishman and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc found themselves in seventh and sixth place at the end of the latest race of an underwhelming season for the Prancing Horse.
Neither of the duo ever really seemed in contention for the pole as Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri pipped his team-mate Lando Norris to first position.
But Hamilton had a much brighter outlook on his performance than he has done for much of the season while speaking to reporters afterwards, saying he’s in a ‘much better place’ following the summer break.
It comes after the Brit described himself as ‘useless’ at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this month and even claimed Ferrari should look for a new driver.
‘I think it was okay,’ the seven-time world champion reflected on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton gave a surprisingly upbeat interview after finishing seventh in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix
He finished a place behind his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was far more critical of himself
‘I was looking for progress coming into this weekend and I was out of Q3 in the last God-knows how many races now, so that is progress.
‘Clearly we’re not where we want to be. The package has been quite a difficult challenge this weekend. Charles going from P1 in qualifying for the last race to being six-tenths off here, we’re clearly missing something.
‘But I’ve enjoyed the weekend more so far. From my side, I’ve made some adjustments to my approach and I’m definitely in a better place.
‘We’ve had a break and I’m definitely in a much calmer place through this weekend.’
Hamilton’s reaction was in stark contract to his team-mate, currently placed fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, who has hugely critical of himself post-race.
‘I’m very disappointed with myself, to be honest. I haven’t done the job today and I’ve been very poor,’ Leclerc told reporters.
‘The whole weekend has been a little bit on the back foot on my side, trying to change and to chase something that maybe wasn’t in the car this weekend, for one reason or another.
‘We are losing a lot of lap time in two or three corners and that kind of stayed the same during qualifying, not as much as in free practice but still we were losing.
The Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday with Oscar Piastri of McLaren in pole position
‘But, by trying to find something that was not in the car, I think the consistency of the weekend has been hurt a little bit and I just didn’t do a good job.’
The Dutch Grand Prix goes ahead tomorrow with Piastri in pole position ahead of Norris, with reigning champion Max Verstappen securing third on the grid.
