Lewis Hamilton blew what could have been a first Ferrari podium of the season by crashing out at the Dutch Grand Prix. Hamilton was caught out as his tyres started to wear down in the opening stint.
In an innocuous but costly incident, Hamilton lost grip on the outside of the banked turn three and then wedged his front tyre in the wall. He immediately apologised to the team on the radio.
It was the first major incident of a dramatic race that saw teammate Charles Leclerc crash out (following a tangle with Kimi Antonelli), Lando Norris retire after a highly uncharacteristic McLaren failure and midfield driver Isack Hadjar score a podium.
This was exactly the kind of chaos Hamilton, who started P7, needed to end his podium drought. Instead, he walked away with no points on the board for a second straight weekend – the first time this has happened since the Qatar and United States Grands Prix in 2023.
Lewis Hamilton normally thrives in tricky conditions, says David Coulthard
Speaking on F1TV’s coverage of the Dutch Grand Prix, Jolyon Palmer described Hamilton’s error as ‘strange’. A light rain shower had made conditions tricky for the drivers.
However, Hamilton is the second-most experienced driver not only on the grid, but in the history of the sport. And historically, he has thrived in changeable conditions.
Palmer says this error spoke to his lingering discomfort in the SF-25. Hamilton had hailed the progress he and the team were making this weekend, having been almost neck-and-neck with Leclerc in qualifying, but one of the worst slumps of his career has continued.
“The Hamilton one is a strange one, though,” he said. “When you think of the drizzle and Lewis Hamilton, you think ‘this is the time where he’s going to charge through the field and start making progress historically, but he does just seem not comfortable in the car and the environment he’s in.”
Palmer’s colleague David Coulthard agreed, admitting the ‘uncomfortable’ need to acknowledge that Hamilton has been unrecognisable at times in 2025.
“Jolyon, you raise the uncomfortable conversation about Lewis this season,” he said. “That’s normally the environment that he would thrive [in], and it was so late in the corner that he’d run out of road and grip. That makes it doubly frustrating to watch.”
Lewis Hamilton’s worrying response to Dutch Grand Prix crash
Leclerc was furious after Hamilton’s crash, which brought out the safety car. He had just pitted, which meant it was the worst possible timing.
In the end, it mattered little as Ferrari registered their second non-score of the season (following the double disqualification in China).
Like Palmer, Karun Chandhok felt Hamilton’s error was ‘odd’. The painted surface may have been slippery, but his rivals were able to cope during the same phase.
Even Hamilton couldn’t explain the crash in the media pen, though he will now review it with his Ferrari engineers. There is already significant concern over his performances, but it will go up another level if he falters again at Monza next weekend.