'I was hopeful we were going to get a 1-2’: Hamilton

ZANDVOORT: Seven-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes has apologised for letting the steam off on the team radio after missing out on a chance for a podium finish in the Dutch Grand Prix here on Sunday.

Hamilton made an angry outburst in the final stages of the Dutch Grand Prix, having seen a possible chance of victory snatched away by a late Safety Car.

With Mercedes showing strong pace throughout the Dutch Grand Prix, Hamilton had made his way up to P2 and was just 12s behind eventual winner Max Verstappen when racing resumed on Lap 50 of 72 after a Virtual Safety Car.

However, a Safety Car was called six laps later after Valtteri Bottas pulled up on the main straight, Verstappen, Russell and Charles Leclerc diving into the pits for soft tyres as Hamilton stayed out on his mediums, inheriting the lead.

But, when normal racing resumed, he was immediately passed by Verstappen, with Russell and Leclerc following suit to leave a furious Hamilton P4 by the chequered. "I can't believe you guys ****ed me. I can't tell you how ****ed I am," yelled Hamilton into the radio.

However, while facing the media later, the Briton had calmed down a lot and saw some positives in his teammate Russell passing him to the finish line, said a report on the f1 website.

"My apologies to the team because I don't even remember what I said," smiled Hamilton. "It was like I just lost it for a second, but I think they know it's just so much passion," Hamilton was quoted as saying by the official F1 website.

"We were just challenged with a lot of things, with the VSCs, and the Safety Cars," added Hamilton. "I think the strategy and the car had been so good up on to that point, the pit stops were fantastic, the best that we had had all year. It was geeing me up, I was thinking the guys are really, really on it today, we are all on it. I was really hopeful that we were going to get a one-two together as a team.

"Especially after - we've had not a great year, an up and down year, we've not had a win since Brazil. And it's finally there within our grasp but the Safety Car really didn't help. I was just on the edge of breaking point with emotions," he said.

"I want to look at it as a glass half full, we came here struggling from the last race. We were fighting against the Red Bulls today. We were quicker than most at many points; without the Safety Car, we would have been challenging them for the win on the one-stop, which I don't think the others could do," he said.

Despite the positives, Hamilton couldn't hide his frustration after a missed shot for a first pole of the season on Saturday - Sergio Perez spun in front of him in Q3, bringing out yellow flags - with the Mercedes man feeling that that could have helped his race prospects further, as he started P4.