"Perez crashed on purpose", "RB reaction after Perez clash, they didn't look surprised or worried"- Fans cry foul as Sergio Perez's spin compromises Lewis Hamilton's Dutch GP qualifying

Fans were not happy with Sergio Perez for his spin that affected Lewis Hamilton's qualifying at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. The Red Bull driver spun during the dying stages of Q3, causing yellow flags in S3 and compromising Hamilton's last flying lap.

Many fans claimed there was foul play involved in Perez's spin that helped Max Verstappen secure pole position. Charles Leclerc finished third - ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Hamilton. Perez was fifth.

Here are some of the tweets:

"rb reaction after perez crashed, they didn't look surprised or worried"

"Red bull corruption prevent lewis fromz P2"

"Perez earned his bonus today again!"

"camera cut directly from Perez crash to the entirety of rb garage cheering lmao"

"Sergio Perez’s role in Red Bull is to make everything Max Verstappen does look better. I am convinced."

There were others that rebuked the claim, though, saying Red Bull were on course for pole even before the race.

"Inevitable 'Perez crashed on purpose to deny ....' comments are abound... again. Are these people real?"

"For those complaining that he did it on purpose...Perez was on 2 personal best sectors and some fastest session mini sectors. On track for P3-P4, There's no reason to purposely have a driver spin to secure pole for a driver who was already squarely in pole."

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Lewis Hamilton reflects on P4 in Dutch GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton reflected on what was an eventful qualifying session at Zandvoort. He felt he could have featured in the front row if not for the yellow flag.

Hamilton said that Mercedes have closed the single lap deficit on their competitors and hope to see that on raceday too.

“I think if we hadn’t had the yellow flag, we’d have hopefully been fighting for the front row," said Hamilton. "So that's really positive. I hope that for the deficit we normally have that we closed the deficit on a single lap, if that can then reflect to our race pace, that would be awesome."

Feeling 'good' about his qualifying performance, Mercedes were only one-tenth of a second behind Red Bull. That gave him hope to finish in the front row in qualifying, which was eventually not to be.

"I genuinely feel good," said Hamilton. "I’m really happy that the car’s finally felt alive this weekend. To be going through Q1 and Q2 and only being a tenth behind a Red Bull was a great feeling and really gave me a lot of hope that I could fight for the front row.”

The 37-year-old expressed surprise that Mercedes could close the gap on Red Bull on a single lap, saying:

"We closed the gap somehow on the one lap, I can’t really understand why, but I’m hoping that that means we’re even closer again in the race. If we are that’ll be fantastic, if we can fight these guys and have a battle with these 3 ahead of me, that’ll be an amazing experience."

He added that the car looked good and could go quicker on Sunday as he targets a podium finish.

"I've not done a long run, but George (Russell) did and it looked quite good," said Hamilton. "The car was feeling strong today and I felt like I could go quicker. I hope that translates to tomorrow, but I'll definitely be gunning and pushing as hard as I can for a podium.”

The seven-time world champion will start the Dutch GP in P4, while his teammate George Russell will be in P6. Mercedes could be a contender for a podium finish this season, considering their performance in qualifying.