Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix on August 21, behind winner Lando Norris and Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, who took second and third places respectively. Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc finished fifth[citation s1,s2,s3,s4].

Hamilton said Ferrari's delay in pitting Leclerc, who was on different tyres, cost him several seconds and ultimately his chance to reach the podium. He asked the team to let him pass Leclerc during the race because he was quicker on fresher tyres, but the team kept Leclerc out for an extra lap, costing Hamilton valuable time [1, 2, 3].

Hamilton criticized Ferrari's radio strategy, telling his team, "Great way of wasting time, guys. Great job." He added that he was frustrated by the lost seconds and believes Ferrari can win the championship if they maximize every opportunity. "Today was definitely frustrating for me. I’m here to win... To win championships you have to pick up every point. The last few races have been difficult with penalties, and today I lost several seconds behind Charles which I think ultimately would have made the difference at the end," Hamilton said [1, 4].

Hamilton said he saw Mercedes executing better race strategy. "I think what’s clear is I’m looking ahead and seeing Mercedes execute like that. They’ve got the car, they’re fighting for the championship, in the lead and they did it straight away. Here, I’m sitting back, losing seconds. It’s something that we need to discuss offline," Hamilton added [4].

Mercedes team orders played a role in the race outcome, as the team swapped George Russell and Kimi Antonelli positions late in the race to secure Antonelli's second place finish [1, 2, 4, 3].

After the Dutch GP, Hamilton trails championship leader Antonelli by 59 points and is level on points with his Mercedes teammate Russell [1, 2, 3].

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said the team deliberately kept Leclerc on track longer to avoid revealing Hamilton's strategy to competitors [1].

Hamilton praised Ferrari overall but emphasized the need to improve race decisions. "Let’s not hold ourselves up from a potentially better result," he said [2].

The next race is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari’s home circuit, where both Hamilton and Leclerc have won races this season [2, 3]. Ferrari last captured a Formula One title in 2008 [2, 3].