Lewis Hamilton remains optimistic despite seeing his track time reduced following an issue during second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, as the Mercedes driver was forced to stop his car after completing just three laps. Hamilton watched on as Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in FP2 , ahead of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, with championship rival Max Verstappen finishing fifth. Hamilton knows he's on the back foot, but is keen to make up for lost time on Saturday. "I just lost power, so they just told me to stop," Hamilton stated after the session. "It's not the end of the world. "This morning we only really got 20 minutes of running, obviously, with the red flag. Naturally, it puts [you] on the back foot, but Valtteri [Bottas] looks like he had a good session, so hopefully tomorrow we can try and make up for some of the time." Friday's actions marked F1's return to Zandvoort after a 36-year absence, and Hamilton expects the excitement to ramp up as the weekend goes along. "It's been a beautiful day in terms of weather, it's amazing to see the crowd," Hamilton added. "There's so many people here and it's good to see people hype. "It's the first time we've seen the full – well not full yet, as we'll see it in the next two days – energy that the Dutch fans bring."
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