Lewis Hamilton buoyed by Mercedes form at the F1 Dutch GP: "We were near the front of the field"

Lewis Hamilton was buoyed by the form of the Mercedes as the British driver started the race weekend on a positive note. The driver has often done well around this track and could have potentially won the race in 2022.

Coming into the weekend, Lewis Hamilton has won 2 of the last three races with victories in Silverstone and Spa. The driver is enjoying an impressive run of form and carried the momentum into the F1 Dutch GP race weekend by finishing FP2 in P3. Talking to F1.com afterward, the driver was pleased with the performance and the result, and said,

“Today wasn’t a bad start to the weekend. Everything went well, the car was feeling alive, and we were near the front of the field on the timing screens. We understand our car and that is making starting each weekend on the front foot much easier. We can make small tweaks from there, rather than big changes, and that is making it much easier to find performance."

"That was the case today and sets us up well for the rest of the weekend. There’s still more time to find out for sure. I didn’t get the most out of my lap on the soft compound tyre so that’s encouraging for qualifying. We will go through the data on the long runs this evening and see if we can make further improvements overnight,” Hamilton added.

Heading into the F1 Dutch GP race weekend, Lewis Hamilton is one of the inform drivers. After winning two races out of the last three, the 39-year-old has managed to leapfrog his teammate George Russell in the championship standings after trailing him for the most part at the start of the season.

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Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell slightly more cautious about Mercedes prospects

Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell was slightly more circumspect in terms of the team's prospects, as he felt that things could change overnight. Russell felt that the competition could change at a moment's notice and the conditions could be a bit more challenging. Talking to F1.com, George gave his take on what has been an exciting and unpredictable season so far and said,

"The pack at the front seems to be quite close once again. We expect to be facing another fascinating battle across the rest of the weekend for the podium spots. That said, it could all be very different tomorrow as the conditions likely change once again."

While Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed a rich vein of form, scoring multiple wins, George Russell has been relatively unlucky, suffering two DNFs in the last three events. The young driver would look to bounce back and regain some momentum following a disappointing outcome at the Belgian GP earlier.