Lewis Hamilton told Sergio Perez impeding verdict after F1 Dutch Grand Prix incident

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Lewis Hamilton could only manage P12 in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix and also drew an investigation from the race stewards over impeding Sergio Perez on Saturday.

It was a session largely to forget for the Mercedes hero as the Formula 1 field contested the first competitive session since the summer break. While teammate George Russell achieved fourth place in his Silver Arrow, an early exit during Q2 beckoned for Hamilton at Zandvoort.

Hamilton finished the intermediate stage of qualifying for the Dutch GP a full 0.452 seconds down on the chart-topping pace of Lando Norris. His best effort in Q2 was also 0.396s down on the pace that Russell posted, with Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda even 0.007s behind.

Sergio Perez had ‘bad luck’ with Lewis Hamilton impeding in Dutch GP qualifying

Q1 was far from smooth sailing beside the North Sea for Hamilton, as well, as his positioning caught the attention of the race stewards for potentially impeding Perez. The Red Bull driver bemoaned the 39-year-old’s place on the outside of Bocht 9 having had to abort a timed lap.

Hamilton knew Perez was approaching on a flying lap, so tried to be out of the 34-year-old’s way entering T9. But the Briton crawling through the corner ultimately meant Hamilton was where Perez intended to send his RB20 when exiting the bend, thus unable to keep pushing.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Dutch Grand Prix including Prost and Piquet’s drama

The stewards initially noted the incident before placing Hamilton under investigation for the Mercedes driver impeding Red Bull rival Perez in qualifying for the Dutch GP. But ex-Minardi driver Davidson thinks Hamilton had nowhere else to go and that Perez was simply unlucky.

“He’s on the outside of the corner, he knows that Perez is coming up but where do you go?,” he told Sky Sports F1 (24/08, 14:23). “You’re kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If you go to the inside, you’re on the racing line and you can’t stop the car on the track.

“So, I feel like Lewis was in that predicament where he’s in the way and tried his best to get out of the way but, unfortunately, you end up on the racing line on the exit of the corner. So, it will be interesting to see how the stewards read that one.

“From my experience, I wouldn’t have known where to put my car in that situation. I really do think it’s bad luck for Checo that he found himself in that situation. For Lewis, apart from going off the track or physically stopping, I don’t know where else he could have gone.”

Lewis Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez

Hamilton could not cut over to the inside entering Bocht 9 as the Mercedes icon would have then risked impeding Perez as the Red Bull driver attacked on corner entry. He also had zero options to the left of the track other than running into the gravel, which no F1 driver would.

Potentially, the one option Hamilton had to avoid any potential concerns of impeding Perez would have been to push through Bocht 9, as well, before moving to one side. Yet the short shoot between Bocht 9 and 10 may have also left him in the way exiting T9 or entering T10.

But while Davidson felt Perez had ‘bad luck’, Hamilton had no luck as the stewards slapped the Mercedes hero with a three-place grid penalty for the Dutch Grand Prix over impeding his rival in Q1. Yet Hamilton will only lose two spots as Alex Albon was disqualified from P8.