Lewis Hamilton has 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. 

Ferrari has flirted with a drivers’ title battle since last achieving success in 2007, but has rarely maintained this for the duration of a campaign.

Hamilton arrived in Zandvoort second in the standings to Kimi Antonelli, but has now dropped to third, and vented his frustration during the race 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 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. 

“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.”

Lewis Hamilton has 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. 

Ferrari has flirted with a drivers’ title battle since last achieving success in 2007, but has rarely maintained this for the duration of a campaign.

Hamilton arrived in Zandvoort second in the standings to Kimi Antonelli, but has now dropped to third, and vented his frustration during the race 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 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. 

“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.”