Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix, sparking a furious post‑race rant from the 41‑year‑old after Ferrari’s Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur explained the botched strategy that left the No. 16 car vulnerable to rivals.
During the 72‑lap Zandvoort sprint, Hamilton’s overtake of Oscar Piastri for fifth left him within a few turns of slower team‑mate Charles Leclerc. The thin circuit hampered overtaking, and Hamilton called hard on the lack of team‑orders, which came too late, buoying Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli, and George Russell to gain ground.
“Great way of wasting time guys, good job!” Hamilton snorted, cataloguing former teammates with extra‑pace tyres. Leclerc made a second pit stop on lap 43, unexpectedly delaying the switch to fresh rubber. Ferrari chose to keep Hamilton up, hoping to keep him on track to the finish, but the late‑day VSC that forced Esteban Ocon to take softer 41‑mm tyres gave Hamilton a long second stint of 30 laps that proved disastrous.
When the virtual safety car appeared on lap 55, Hamilton exited into fresh‑compound traffic from Norris and Antonelli, decreasing the lead to a single second and allowing the Mercedes incumbents to close on good pace.
Fred Vasseur said the aim was to hide the plan from rivals: “We didn’t want to tell him the strategy at this stage because we didn’t want to disclose it to the competitors.” He added that the confusion over tyre selection between mediums, softer and hards was “very marginal today, and the continuously adapting strategy left everyone a little lost.”
Hamilton’s media brief turned into a critique of “execution.” He pointed to recent Mercedes team‑orders, citing Russell handing Antonelli the second position on lap 65 under a VSC, while he stayed on hards. Vasseur agreed the race strategy was not optimal, noting that a different pit call on lap 46 might have delivered a podium. “When Lewis came back on Charles, we were expecting him to pit,” he told reporters.
Ferrari drop the hold on a tight front‑end fight and now sit 87 points behind the title‑leading Mercedes, 75 ahead of third‑placed McLaren, with 11 races remaining. The 2026 season will still test whether Ferrari can correct these planning falterings before the championship battle escalates.
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