Hamilton felt powerless: 'Max did better across the board'

Lewis Hamilton was unable to maintain his leading position in the world championship last weekend. The seven-time world champion had Max Verstappen move back ahead of him after he won the Dutch Grand Prix.

Hamilton tried everything during the race to pass Verstappen, who started from pole position. However, it turned out to be an impossible task. "Max did better across the board," Hamilton assessed during the press conference.. "I think they were definitely faster today. I couldn't really do much to respond to the lap times he was setting right from the first step. It was very difficult to keep up with him and I think Max only did better from that point on, while I was full steam ahead trying to stay as close as possible."

However, the British driver failed to do so. "I think today we probably had to have everything perfect to have even the slightest chance of passing them through, for example, strategy. But the pit stops had to be right, the strategy had to be right and so did the traffic. None of those three were ideal today."

The victory puts Verstappen three points ahead in the world championship. This weekend the next race is already on the programme. Then the Formula 1 teams travel to Italy.