Lewis Hamilton coy over mysterious change behind Dutch GP boost

Lewis Hamilton has remained coy over changes made to his Ferrari as he returned to Q3 at the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Hamilton qualified seventh fastest for the Zandvoort race, just 0.050s slower than team-mate Charles Leclerc as he bounced back from his dismal effort in Hungary last time out, which left him claiming he was "useless" and Ferrari should sign "another driver."

At Zandvoort, Hamilton has shown flashes of pace, but was not able to get an optimum qualifying simulation in during practice after a spin, having gone purple in Sector 1. 

The seven-time champion has griped throughout the season of not feeling comfortable with the setup and balance of his SF-25 machine, but hinted at a change made before the weekend, which has unlocked more feeling, although he wouldn't be drawn further.

"We made progress today, and had a slightly different approach into the weekend, with some tweaks even before I got here, and then through the weekend, it has been a lot smoother," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Yesterday, the car was a bit unpredictable, and we made some changes, but we were looking for progress, and I feel like I've had that this weekend. I've not been in Q3 for some time, so I am grateful for that.

"It is definitely encouraging on my side of the garage to have a better result, because the boys in the garage deserve it to be there or thereabouts.

"Something has changed, which has enabled me to start on the right foot, on a better foot. 

"We saw my first lap [in practice] was quickest and the next lap was a spin, but the car, the set-up change, worked well, and it has not been up and down. 

"It has been quite stable, we've just made small tweaks, and now I'm trying to gain more confidence in the car."

"But of course, we're not where we want to be, seven-tenths of a second on a track like this is a huge amount, so we've got to understand why that is, because Charles was P1 in the last race, but naturally I still have a deficit and we've had it all year long."