Lewis Hamilton apologized to his Mercedes team for his radio outburst in the Dutch Grand Prix, admitting his crews' strategy call had put him "on the edge of breaking of emotions" after he had dropped from first to fourth.
Mercedes opted not to pit Hamilton during a late safety car period triggered on lap 56 of 72 by Valtteri Bottas' Alfa Romeo that was stranded on the approach to Turn 1.
During the neutralization, Red Bull had immediately brought in race leader Max Verstappen for a fresh set of softs while Mercedes hedged its bets and pitted George Russell a lap later, also for soft rubber.
Hamilton, running on his old mediums, led the restart but was overhauled in short order by Verstappen, with Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc also breezing past the seven-time world champion in the following laps.
©Mercedes
"I can’t believe you guys screwed me like that," quipped a visibly angry Hamilton on the radio. "I can’t tell you how pissed I am right now."
But after the race which he concluded in fourth position, Hamilton apologized to his team and conceded that his fury had gotten the better of him.
"I was just on the edge of breaking point with emotions and my apologies to the team because I don’t even remember what I said, I just lost it for a second," Hamilton said.
"But I think they know that there is just so much passion and I want to look at it as a glass half full, we came here struggling from last race, we were fighting against the Red Bulls today, we were quicker than most at many points."
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The Briton, who has yet to win a race this season, reckons that without the safety car, and had he been able to run his one-stop strategy as planned, he could have given Verstappen a proper run for his money.
"Without the safety car I think we’d have been challenging them for the win at the end on the one-stop which I don’t think the others could do.
"So many great things to take from it, the car was finally working. If this can be the same in the future races, we’re going to be continuing to breathe down their necks and we’re going to get that win."
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