Lewis Hamilton crashes out of Dutch GP moments after telling radio message

Lewis Hamilton suffered a nightmare return of the Formula 1 season as he crashed out of the Dutch Grand Prix. It happened on lap 23 of the Zandvoort race when the seven-time champion became the first driver to retire when he lost control and buried the right side of his Ferrari into a tyre barrier.

The rain had begun to fall at the circuit, which is right on the western coast of the Netherlands. And as the wet weather swept in off the North Sea, the track was getting wetter and making conditions more fraught – particularly away from the racing line.

And that was where Hamilton became unstuck. On the banked third corner of the track, he went wide and onto the painted surface bearing the logo of a sponsor where he found no grip and understeered into the barrier, snapping his front-right wheel off the car and ending his race.

Hamilton had been running in seventh place at the time of the accident, chasing George Russell in the Mercedes. Just moments before his crash, he had been onto the radio with his Ferrari team to tell them that he was struggling to get close enough to his fellow Brit.

"We definitely have to undercut these guys," he told race engineer Riccardo Adami. "It's hard to get closer." He was advocating for a swift pit stop with the hope of finding enough time on newer tyres to be ahead of Russell by the time he made his own trip to his garage.

But team-mate Charles Leclerc was running fifth and, as a result, had pit stop priority at Ferrari. The Monegasque was the first called in for a change of rubber and, just after that, Hamilton suffered his accident at the least ideal time for the team.

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That was because Hamilton's crash brought out the safety car, which gave others the opportunity to make a pit stop which would cost them less time because others who were still out on track would have to slow down for the yellow flags.

But as Leclerc had already visited the pit lane while the race was being run at full speed, he lost time relative to Russell who had been behind him. By the time the Brit had stopped for fresh Mercedes rubber, he was able to come out ahead of the Ferrari, recovering fifth place which was where he had started before losing ground to Leclerc.

But the Monegasque was on a mission to get that place back and he did exactly that with a very aggressive move down the inside of the chicane towards the end of the lap. They made contact as the front-right of the Ferrari dug into the side of the Mercedes, but Leclerc was able to get the move done.

However, Russell reported that Leclerc had gone off track and cut the corner while he executed that overtake, leading to a stewards' investigation.

But that was of no consolation to Russell who had suffered damage to his floor and was losing a lot of time. When team-mate Kimi Antonelli came up to the back of him, the order came from Mercedes to let the teenager by as he was the one who had the best chance of closing the gap to Leclerc again in his undamaged car.