Had he started up there with George Russell at the Dutch Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton reckons a podium was not out of the question.

The race winner last time out in Belgium, Hamilton was a shock Q2 casualty at Zandvoort, his race weekend worsening further when he received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. That left him P14 on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton sensed Dutch GP podium chance with better qualifying

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Hamilton went on to deliver a solid recovery drive, crossing the line P8 as team-mate George Russell dropped from fourth on the grid to a P7 finish.

And if Hamilton had started where Russell did, he felt challenging for a podium could have been possible.

“I was much happier today, I was moving forwards,” Hamilton declared to Sky F1.

“I think, ultimately, the car felt better. Even though I had a lot of understeer in [F]P1, the car felt really great and even for [F]P2 and then we made this change overnight because we had so much understeer, and then it just flipped it on its knife edge, it just flipped it onto the other side.

“So we backed up a bunch of wing for the race and I was progressing, I felt like I was moving in the right direction, but just too far back, unfortunately.

“So I think if I had qualified where George was, I would have finished at least there, if not further ahead.

“I think we could have been close to the podium today. I don’t know whether or not we were faster than the Ferraris, but there were elements of our pace which was really really strong.

“But the car was not great, compared to the last race. We had a lot more pace in the last race. Today we were a lot closer to others.”

Next up is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, an event which Hamilton has won five times, giving him the joint record alongside Ferrari icon Michael Schumacher.

And this will be Hamilton’s first visit to Monza since his blockbuster Ferrari F1 2025 move was announced.

However, when asked by media including PlanetF1.com if he looks forward to the race weekend with that Ferrari move announced, Hamilton said he simply looks forward to it as an opportunity to do better than the nightmare Zandvoort race weekend.