Mercedes bounced back from a tricky weekend at Spa-Francorchamps but were unable to get past fourth and sixth in the Dutch GP standings, with Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell mingling with the Ferrari cars and RedBull.
The Briton finished qualifying four tenths off Max Verstappen’s pole time but was forced to abort his final lap of Q3 after a spin by Sergio Pérez.
“I think if we hadn’t had that yellow flag, hopefully we would have been fighting for the front row,” said the Briton, who also called his result “really positive” after suffering more than expected last weekend.
“It’s really positive. I hope we’ve closed the deficit we normally have to just one lap, if that can then be reflected in our race pace that would be impressive.”
Although Hamilton thought the front row was possible, he doubted he could have beaten Verstappen ‘s time to claim his first pole position of the campaign.
“I think he’s very optimistic. They’re still a bit too quick for us. But I really think the front row was possible.”
Mercedes F1 director Toto Wolff did believe Hamilton was in a position to challenge for pole, saying team data showed he was improving on Verstappen ‘s time at the time of the yellow flags.
“According to our car data, we were a tenth ahead before the incident,” he said.
“We don’t know how far we would have gone. But I think we were definitely [challenging] for pole position. And that’s a good feeling. We want more. And I think we could have been there or at least close.”
A step forward from Mercedes at Zandvoort was certainly expected, given that the Dutch track layout is favorable to the characteristics of the W13 and the warmer temperatures also benefit the Germans, quite the opposite of what we saw at Spa, where Hamilton finished one second from pole.
The seven-time world champion said he was “optimistic for the race” but also noted that it was “difficult to overtake here, so we’ll see.”
“I didn’t do a long run in conditions, but George [Russell] did and it looked pretty good. The car felt strong today and I felt I could go faster.”
“Hopefully that will be the case again tomorrow, as I’ve already said, but I’m definitely going to push as hard as I can to get a podium finish,” the Mercedes driver concluded.
