Hamilton rues missed Dutch GP opportunity after hellish qualifying

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have fought for a podium at the Dutch Grand Prix had it not been for his disastrous qualifying session at Zandvoort.

The Mercedes driver started P14, opting for an aggressive two-stop strategy as he crossed the line in eighth position, picking up four points.

Despite starting 10 places behind George Russell, who lined up fourth, the 39-year-old finished one place and less than five seconds behind his team-mate.

Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 during Saturday's qualifying session, and was due to line up P12, but for a three-place grid drop for impeding Red Bull's Sergio Perez in Q1.

He was elevated back up after Alexander Albon was disqualified and Kevin Magnussen was forced to start from the pits.

"I think we could have been close to a podium today," the 105-time grand prix winner told Sky Sport F1 when pondering what might have been had it not been for his poor qualifying.

"I don't know whether or not we were faster than the Ferraris, but there were elements of our pace which was really, really strong.

"But the car was not great compared to the last race [at Spa-Francorchamps]. We have a lot more pace in the last race. Today, we were a lot closer to the others."

Despite his strong race pace, Hamilton was quick to highlight that his W15 was not performing to the level it was prior to the summer break, when he won two of three races to close the first chapter of the F1 season.

The seven-time drivers' champion explained what caused the issues on Saturday which contributed to his early qualifying exit.

"I was much happier today," Hamilton said. "I was moving forward.

"Ultimately, I think the car felt better [before]. Even though I had a lot of understeer in FP1, the car felt great - and even for FP2.

"And then we made this change overnight because we had so much understeer and then it just flipped it on its knife edge - it just flipped onto the other side.

"So we backed out a bunch of wing for the race and I was progressing. I felt like I was moving in the right direction, but just too far back, unfortunately.

"I think if I qualified where George [Russell] was [in fourth], I would have finished at least there, if not further ahead."