Lewis Hamilton termed an “idiot” by fellow driver during 2024 F1 Dutch GP qualifying
Sergio Perez was not pleased with Lewis Hamilton after the Mercedes driver reportedly impeded him during the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix qualifying. Perez, who was carrying out a flying lap in Q2, found Hamilton in front of him for a moment, and as a result, termed him an “idiot.”
Formula 1 returned in the Netherlands after the summer break, and Saturday’s qualifying saw some fiery words from the drivers, including Perez. The Mexican driver seemed to be in better form amid intense criticism and pulled off a stunning lap to finish Q2 in P1.
However, it did not come easy as the Red Bull star had to deal with his Mercedes counterpart on the track. Prior to Perez’s P1 lap in Q2, his penultimate flying lap on the session was aborted after he found Hamilton on his left. Reacting to this, the Red Bull driver hit out on the radio:
“What the f*** is this idiot doing?”
However, Lewis Hamilton felt he was “well out” of Perez’s way. He took to the team radio to clarify his stance. He stated:
“I was well out of his way.”
Red Bull noticed the incident and reported it to the FIA. The governing body took cognizance of it, and the Stewards summoned Hamilton after qualifying was over.
While Red Bull and Sergio Perez were far from happy with Hamilton’s position, Sam Collins, F1 Tech expert, explained the situation. According to Collins, the seven-time world champion had nowhere to go, and on the other hand, Perez could have easily averted the situation by going for the apex, instead of slowing down.
Lewis Hamilton laments poor qualifying performance
Lewis Hamilton during the Dutch GP qualifying. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton reflected on his qualifying session on Saturday after he failed to clear Q2. The Mercedes ace reportedly carried out some tweaks with the set-up of his W-15 coming into this race weekend, and they turned out to be a nightmare for him during qualifying.
“It will be a struggle to get into the top 10,” Hamilton said. “We made changes overnight and we couldn’t see [what impact that had] in P3, but it’s the same for everybody. We changed the car quite a lot and it was a nightmare today.”
“The car was massively snappy today. Yesterday was a lot of under-steer and then we tried to dial that out and went more the other way.”
Lewis Hamilton qualified in P12, ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. His teammate George Russell managed P4, whereas McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed the pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
