Hamilton: ‘Redemption’ drive made up for “terrible” qualifying

The seven-time world champion was left with a lot of work to do in Sunday’s race at Zandvoort after he could only manage 13th in a disastrous qualifying, having suffered a shock elimination in Q2.

Despite finding himself at the very back of the field at one stage, Hamilton impressively fought back to salvage a strong sixth behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the end of a chaotic and rain-effected race. 

“It didn’t start off that well but I’m happy with the drive that I did to get back into the points and get sixth,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton believes Mercedes “paid the price” for pitting him too late during an early downpour, which he thinks cost him a better result. 

“But it could have been higher, for sure, if we had made the right decision at the end of the day.

“We should have pitted, obviously, and we didn’t and we paid the price for that, and we did our best to come back.”

But Hamilton was satisfied with his personal performance to overcome a disappointing Saturday.

“I feel like today was redemption in a sense that it was terrible yesterday and I’ve managed to dial the car in a bit better today,” he added.

“I overtook a bunch of people and to start 13th, I was dead last at one time, so to get back up to sixth, I’m happy with that.”

The result leaves Hamilton fourth in the drivers’ championship on 156 points, 12 behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. 

Mercedes teammate George Russell sits seventh, 57 points adrift of Hamilton.