Lewis Hamilton has once again backed Ferrari's ability to win, but pointed to key things the team must learn if it is to fight for the Formula 1 title once more. The comments come after a frustrating race for the Briton at Zandvoort.
Hamilton arrived in the Netherlands second in the standings behind teammate Kimi Antonelli, but has now dropped to third. During the race, he vented his frustration at Ferrari's lack of urgency or willingness to make tough calls from the pit wall. This was especially clear when the team was slow to react when he closed onto the gearbox of Charles Leclerc mid-race.
This delay, Hamilton believes, cost him a podium finish, and instead left him to take the flag in fourth place.
"Today was definitely frustrating for me," he told Sky Sports. "I'm here to win, and I really believe that this team can win. Whether or not we couldn't win this race, but to win championships, you have to pick up every point, and the last few races have been difficult with penalties and stuff. Then today, I lost several seconds behind Charles, which I think ultimately probably would have made the difference at the end. But we'll take it offline. My goal is to try and lead this team to the top, to the championship, and we've got some work to do, for sure."
Despite his frustration at some of the in-race antics, Hamilton was nonetheless pleased with his strategy, and praised aspects of the team's execution of the weekend. "Firstly, I think the guys in the garage did a fantastic job with the pit stops," he added. "Strategy was genuinely very, very good. The car felt awesome, and, you know, they've worked so hard to continue to put in a bit of an upgrade here. We're just chipping away at it all the time."
However, he also highlighted a fundamental issue that still plagues Ferrari's performance. "We're still losing; this first half of the season, we've been losing three to five tenths on the straight, depending on which track we go to, and that's a very hard deficit to overcome just through corners. But we're close."
With the failure to maintain second in the standings, pressure now mounts on Frederic Vasseur and the team to quickly address this weakness. The growing points gap to the championship leader could become a serious threat to their title ambitions.
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