Lewis Hamilton at Zandvoort post-crash (2)

Hamilton's 'special' crash doesn’t deter Ferrari from finding the positives

14:05, 01 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Lewis Hamilton seemed en route for a strong Dutch Grand Prix result, nevertheless his outing at Circuit Zandvoort took an unexpected turn with a surprising crash, which Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur assessed carefully.

Whilst the weekend seemed to start off well for Hamilton, being on the pace with teammate Charles Leclerc, later proven by his qualifying position being right behind the Monegasque’s, it somehow went wrong during the race, and unexpectedly so.

One minute Hamilton was playing his usual strategic mind games with his rivals, the next he was in the wall. Former F1 driver and current Sky analyst Ralf Schumacher believes it is predominantly a mental issue.

Hamilton's 'special' crash doesn’t deter Ferrari from finding the positives

When asked if it was a confidence-related issue, Vasseur replied to GPblog among others that he did not deem it to be such the nature of the issue that resulted in the crash.

"Not really, I think that this one was a bit of a special one.

"The track was a bit damp, it was during the first sector, it was a bit wider than the lap before, but now we need to investigate if something happened on the car or not, but I don't think so," added the Frenchman, dismissing the possibility of something going awry with the seven-time world champion's Ferrari.

Nevertheless, Vasseur focuses on the positives even if the result was not the desired one.

"But overall, the reaction from Lewis was good, that he was into the pace of the car and of Charles from the beginning of the weekend. He was catching up Russell at this stage.

"It was a good recovery after two tough races before the break. But for sure, the outcome is not the one expected."

Next weekend, the F1 travelling circus heads for the veritable speed temple, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, and Ferrari's home race, where it will be Hamilton's first Monza race in red — the perfect chance for him to get his Ferrari debut season back on track.