Hamilton urges Ferrari to adopt Mercedes efficiency after team orders frustration at Zandvoort

Lewis Hamilton called on Ferrari to match Mercedes’ decisiveness after a lack of team orders cost him valuable time during the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on Sunday, where he finished fourth.

Hamilton had overtaken McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for fifth on lap 35 and immediately found himself stuck behind a slower Charles Leclerc. With no instruction from the pit wall to move his stablemate aside, Hamilton’s frustration boiled over on the radio. “Great way of wasting time guys, good job,” he said sarcastically. Leclerc eventually pitted on lap 43, handing Hamilton fourth place after what the Briton described as a needlessly drawn-out process.

The contrast with Mercedes was stark. With seven laps remaining, the Silver Arrows swapped their cars, asking George Russell to yield second place to Kimi Antonelli, who was on fresher tyres and better placed to attack race leader Lando Norris. Although Norris held on to win for McLaren, both Russell and Antonelli accepted the call without hesitation and completed the podium.

“I want to win,” Hamilton told F1 TV. “I’m here to win and it is difficult when you’re looking ahead and you see the two Mercedes drivers — they get the call and it’s done, they execute straight away. They let Kimi by and let him get on with the race. I was on a different strategy. It’s not the same here and that’s a little bit difficult, but we just have to take it. We’ll take it offline, and when I go back now, I’ll speak to them about it.”

Russell admitted the swap had put him under immediate pressure from Hamilton, fearing Mercedes had “lost a double podium” by letting Antonelli through. A virtual safety car on lap 70 for debris at Turn 5 ultimately helped Russell hold his position, and Hamilton acknowledged the intervention may have denied him a podium challenge.

“It felt like it was the closest opportunity I had,” Hamilton said when asked whether the VSC had cost him third. “I think I’d come out of Turn 14 pretty close to him and I was just opening straight-line mode and getting on the boost. I don’t know whether or not we would have got by because the Mercedes is just so quick. We’re losing like four tenths of a lap here just on straight lines. But I do think the time was lost when I was behind Charles, which ultimately meant I had a bigger distance to make up.”

The episode raises questions about Ferrari’s internal communication and strategic cohesion as Hamilton continues to adapt to life at Maranello in his debut season with the team. Leclerc finished fifth.