Lewis Hamilton issued a heartfelt apology on the radio after crashing out of the Dutch Grand Prix. With light rain coating the Zandvoort Circuit, the seven-time world champion went onto the painted run-off at Turn Three and lost control, slipping into the wall on the corner exit.

The contact with the wall on lap 22 destroyed the front-right of Hamilton’s Ferrari, bringing his race to a premature end. The 40-year-old Brit was running seventh at the time of his crash and was pestering race engineer Riccardo Adami to attempt an undercut on the likes of Isack Hadjar, Charles Leclerc and George Russell ahead of him.

Asked by Adami whether he was okay, Hamilton replied on the radio: Yeah. I’m so sorry, guys.” This was a bitter blow for the Brit, who was enjoying a stronger weekend until finding the barriers.

Before the summer break, Hamilton endured two of his toughest weekends in Ferrari colours. The former McLaren and Mercedes star was knocked out in the first part of both the sprint shootout and Grand Prix qualifying in Belgium, and then crossed the line in 12th at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

F1’s most decorated driver must now go back to the drawing board after arriving in Zandvoort with a new approach. “I tried to have a slightly different approach to the weekend,” Hamilton told media including Express Sport. “Not going to go into details of that, but some tweaks, before I even got here, and then through the weekend, and it’s been a lot smoother.

“Yesterday the car was a bit unpredictable, and I think we made some changes, maybe the wind makes it a little bit difficult as well. But I think we were looking for progress, and I feel like I have had that this weekend. I’ve not been in Q3 for some time, so I am grateful for that.”

Hamilton can at least take the positives from a strong weekend of cooperation with his engineers. Looking at the changes that helped him secure P7 in qualifying, he explained: “As I said, there’s some things I changed which enabled me to start on the right foot, better foot. My first lap yesterday [in FP1] was quickest at the time – then the next lap was a spin, but the car, as I said, is quite unpredictable.

“We worked well together with the engineers this weekend. It’s not been up and down on changes; it’s been quite stable. We just made small tweaks, really, really small tweaks. And therefore just been trying to gain more and more confidence in the car. I think that’s what’s happened the last couple of days.”