Lewis Hamilton ‘odd’ crash theory raised by Karun Chandhok as Dutch Grand Prix ends in disaster

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Lewis Hamilton hoped the summer break would be the reset he needed ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, but his race ended prematurely after a bizarre crash.

Ferrari didn’t have the best start to the race weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix and were the fourth-fastest team in qualifying.

McLaren were miles ahead of the rest of the field, followed by Max Verstappen at his home race.

George Russell got the better of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Q3, although they were all caught out by Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar.

The race was being run with very little action going on, although there were a few spots of rain falling just as the first round of pit stops started.

Just as Leclerc changed tyres for the first time, the yellow flags suddenly came out, and Hamilton’s car was in the barriers on the outside of turn three.

David Croft and Karun Chandhok were commentating on the race and came up with an interesting theory as to why the seven-time world champion.

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Karun Chandhok says Lewis Hamilton’s Dutch Grand Prix crash was ‘odd’

Croft and Chandhok quickly changed their focus to Hamilton on Sky Sports F1 (31/8 2:33 pm) and the lead commentator said: “Right, what happened to Lewis Hamilton, it’s slippy here, the rain we saw in the pit lane and is falling a bit harder now, and he’s gone wide, he’s gone wide, and he just loses the rear and that’s the end of that.”

Chandhok replied: “He just had a snap of oversteer in the middle part of the corner and ended up running wide, but then just seemed to understeer. The camber of the track flattens out.”

He was then interrupted by Hamilton’s engineer, who asked: “Are you OK?” to which Hamilton replied, “Yeah, I’m sorry, guys.”

Croft then theorised: “I wonder if that paint is just wetter than the asphalt?”

Chandhok explained: “I don’t know, they drive over that paint pretty much every lap as part of the racing line.

“When Lewis has gone wide up high, I was walking there this morning, the way the track is Crofty, you’ve got the high, banked part of the actual track, then it flattens out across the top, I wonder if when he’s gone so wide up high past the part that’s bottomed out, he’s just understeered into the wall so slowly. It’s just a bit odd.”

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Lewis Hamilton matches unwanted personal record with Dutch Grand Prix crash

Hamilton’s long wait for a first Ferrari podium continues, and only Louis Rosier has taken part in as many Grand Prix for the Scuderia without a top-three finish.

The 40-year-old will point to his victory in the Sprint Race in China and third-place finish in the Sprint Race in Miami, but his official statistics won’t include either of those results.

Hamilton was much more upbeat after qualifying than Leclerc, despite being beaten by his teammate for the 11th time over one lap.

The British driver’s record at Zandvoort is decent for most drivers, but underwhelming for him, considering he’s won over 100 Grand Prix in his career.

A second-place finish on his first visit in 2021 is his best result, followed by a P4, P6 and P8.

The pattern suggests he should have finished 10th on Sunday, but instead, he failed to finish the race.

It means after five visits, Hamilton is yet to win at Zandvoort, the only other circuit he’s visited the same number of times without winning is Valencia.

It’s a personal record he wouldn’t have wanted to match, especially in the manner that his race ended on Sunday.