“He’s got a bright future”: Lewis Hamilton applauds F1 rookie’s sensational result in Zandvoort

Lewis Hamilton was full of praise for Formula 1 rookie Isack Hadjar following his sensational qualifying session at the Dutch Grand Prix. The 40-year-old acknowledged the Racing Bulls driver had a bright future ahead following what was a fourth-place qualifying position.

Hamilton, who qualified in seventh place for the Zandvoort race, was quizzed about Hadjar during his post-qualifying media interaction. The Scuderia Ferrari driver, who has often been full of praise for the 20-year-old, detailed how amazing the fourth-place starting spot was for him.

"Amazing. Well, I mean, I beat him at Uno, but yeah, he did a great job today. So, it's really great to see him continue to grow as a driver, and he's a really lovely lad. So, he's got a bright future ahead of him,” Lewis Hamilton said.

The fourth-place starting spot, which Hadjar achieved, is the best qualifying position of his career and also the best of any of the rookies on the 2025 grid since Kimi Antonelli at the Miami Grand Prix Sprint. The Racing Bulls driver, who starts on the second row alongside Max Verstappen, will now shift his focus to achieving his best Grand Prix finish through the season so far when the lights go out on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton reflects on his qualifying session

Lewis Hamilton also reflected on his outing at the Dutch Grand Prix qualifying. The seven-time world champion admitted to it being a challenging day with regard to getting the car into its right performance window.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver, however, expressed optimism, detailing how he showed promising pace during the final practice session, particularly on his long runs with the medium tyres. Sharing his thoughts with the media, he stated:

“Today was a challenging one in terms of getting the car fully into the right performance window. We showed promising pace on the medium tyre in FP3, but weren’t able to fully translate that into qualifying, and there’s still work to do compared to the teams ahead. That said, after the summer break, our priority was to keep building, and today was an encouraging step forward. This circuit is always difficult when it comes to overtaking, so if the weather does bring some mixed conditions tomorrow, hopefully it will create opportunities and make the race exciting for the fans.”

Lewis Hamilton is yet to secure a victory at the Zandvoort circuit since its return to Formula 1 in 2021. His best result at the track remains the second place he achieved that season. With his seventh-place starting position coupled with the torrid start to life he has endured at the Ferrari team, the British driver will largely be hoping to claw up as many positions as he can on Sunday.