P7 and a spot behind his Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc might not sound much, but for Lewis Hamilton the outcome of Zandvoort Formula 1 qualifying was much more encouraging than the numbers might suggest.
Consider that including the Spa sprint he was 18th, 16th and 12th in the three previous sessions and it does represent a clear improvement in terms of overall performance.
However more importantly Lewis felt that he’d made progress in coming to terms with the tricky SF-25 and how to get the most out of it.
The man who dismissed himself as “useless” just a few weeks ago appears to be on the way to getting his mojo back.
“I tried to have a slightly different approach into the weekend,” he said when I asked him about his progress. “I’m not going to go into details of what that is, but some tweaks before I even got here, and then through the weekend, and it’s been a lot smoother.
“Yesterday, the car was a bit unpredictable, and we made some changes. I think maybe the wind makes it a little bit difficult as well, but I think we were looking for progress, and feel like I have had that this weekend. And I’ve not been in Q3 for some time, so I’m grateful for that.”
The fact that things are going in the right direction is a welcome boost for Hamilton after his recent struggles.
“Definitely encouraging at least on my side of the garage to have a better result,” he said. “Because the boys in the garage deserve it, and the team deserves it, so I’m happy I could be there or thereabouts.
“But of course, we’re not where we want to be. To be seven-tenths off, six and a half tenths off at a track like this, that’s a huge amount. So we’ve got to try and understand what that is, because Charles was P1 in the last race. But we naturally do still have that deficit, we’ve had it all year long.”
Indeed the gap to McLaren in Zandvoort provides plenty of food for thought.
“I think ultimately we need more load to go through the corners as fast as McLaren here. Now is that load, or is that coming from the tyres? Difficult to know. Maybe they are getting the tyres in a different operating window to us, potentially, or it’s a combination of both.
“Ultimately, I think McLaren definitely have more downforce than everybody, but they’re not very draggy. If we were to try and match them, we have to go up a couple levels of wing, but have the efficiency of a lower wing.
“Then it’s just combination of getting the car to be more stable through corner. I think the wind makes it really tricky, so you’ve got tail winds into Turn 1, and cross winds in lots of different places. And I think this car is just quite sensitive to wind.”
Hamilton was coy about saying too much about what he’s adjusted in terms of the car or his approach.
“As I said, there’s some things I changed on the way in which enabled me to start on the right foot, on the better foot. You saw my first lap yesterday. It was quickest at the time and then the next lap was a spin!
“The car, as I said, was quite unpredictable, but I think the setup changes, I think we really worked well together with the engineers this weekend, and it’s not been up and down changes.
“It’s been quite stable. Just made small tweaks, really, really small tweaks, and therefore just been trying to gain more and more confidence in the car. And I think that’s what’s happened the past couple days.”
He also made an interesting observation about the amount of setup tinkering he’s done, making it clear that he’s reining it in in pursuit of some stability. For example he didn’t join Leclerc in a major change for FP3.
“We started the same, he went a different way this morning, and I didn’t. I just stayed steady and just stayed with where I was, which I think was the right decision for me. I tried where he went many times through the year, and it’s never been positive for me. I’m definitely learning how to track the best from this car and realise that.
“I’m the type that’s always searching for more, like everywhere. It’s a little bit in the tyre pressure, a little bit in the blanket temperatures, a little bit in ride height, front, rear. I’m looking at everything.
“And I think what’s clear, the difference from where I was before, I think here you can’t be looking for those. You have to kind of stay put most often. And I think that’s also the case with this general generation of cars.”
So is this the best he’s felt in the car this year, given that there have been previous false dawns in places like China and Imola?
“I’ve got a bad memory, so I don’t really remember before, it’s all a bit of a blur. But it definitely feels like it’s been one of the most solid couple days so far of the year. So as I said, that’s to do with some of the improvements in the process, my approach, and then it’s just a little calmer overall.
“The team did a great job through qualifying. We just need more performance at this track from somewhere. But tomorrow maybe race pace will be a bit better, I hope. And I hope we can apply some pressure and try and move forwards.”
Indeed what he needs to do now is convert P7 into a decent result on Sunday and give himself and the team a boost ahead of Monza.
“Definitely important to have a solid weekend in general. So the last couple have been nightmare-ish. Get to bed early tonight and come back from tomorrow, and hopefully have a solid day.”
Adam Cooper F1 