Charles Leclerc was sixth quickest in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton seventh and both Ferrari drivers disappointed with the performance of their cars

Lewis Hamilton seemed more relaxed after qualifying at Zandvoort(Image: Sky Sports)

Lewis Hamilton said he is “in a better place” after the summer break. And that helped him to find a more positive outlook despite an underwhelming qualifying for Ferrari at the Dutch Grand Prix in which neither of their drivers ever looked to be in contention for pole.

In truth, no-one not driving a McLaren had much of a chance and they locked out the front row with Oscar Piastri edging out team-mate and title rival Lando Norris for pole. But it was particularly disappointing for the Ferrari drivers to find themselves sixth and seventh on the grid.

Charles Leclerc was slightly quicker than Hamilton, but it was the Brit who had the sunnier outlook at the seaside circuit. The seven-time champion made it clear the summer break had done him plenty of good after a new low at the last race before the shutdown, in Budapest, where he declared himself useless after qualifying 12th.

Hamilton said: “I think it was okay. I was looking for progress coming into this weekend and I was out of Q3 in the last God-knows how many races now, so that is progress.

“Clearly, we’re not where we want to be – the package has been quite a difficult challenge this weekend. Charles going from P1 in qualifying for the last race to being six-tenths off here, we’re clearly missing something. But I’ve enjoyed the weekend more so far.

“From my side, I’ve made some adjustments to my approach and I’m definitely in a better place. We’ve had a break and I’m definitely in a much calmer place through this weekend.”

Leclerc again out-qualified his team-mate, but you would not have thought that if you were judging their respective results by their tone. While Hamilton sounded relaxed, Leclerc cut a frustrated figure as he complained about his car but, mostly, pointed the finger at himself for not qualifying further up the order.

He said: “I’m very disappointed with myself, to be honest. I haven’t done the job today and I’ve been very poor. The whole weekend has been a little bit on the back foot on my side, trying to change and to chase something that maybe wasn’t in the car this weekend, for one reason or another.

“We are losing a lot of lap time in two or three corners and that kind of stayed the same during qualifying, not as much as in free practice but still we were losing. But, by trying to find something that was not in the car, I think the consistency of the weekend has been hurt a little bit and I just didn’t do a good job.

“In qualifying, I’m really not happy with my Q3 lap. In two or three tenths, it can go from a nightmare to actually having a good starting position. You have got to be perfect and, this weekend, we were far from it.”