Lewis Hamilton's Dutch Grand Prix record is a rare gap in a career that has filled almost every other box. Seven world titles, more than a hundred wins, and yet Zandvoort in the modern era has never given him the top step.
Six starts, one second place, a steadily fading run of results and then a genuine recovery in 2026. It is not the record you would expect from a driver of his standing, and that is what makes it interesting.
Hamilton vs Verstappen in 2021
The best of it came right at the start. In 2021, with the title fight against Max Verstappen at full boil, Hamilton qualified second and finished second, unable to do much about a flawless Verstappen on home soil. It stands as his high-water mark at Zandvoort and the only time he has been on the podium here.
No pole, no win. For a driver with more of both than anyone in history, Zandvoort is a genuine blank spot.
A record heading the wrong way
Read the finishes in order, and the trend is hard to miss: second, fourth, sixth, eighth. Four races, and two places lost each time, as Mercedes slid down the order through the ground-effect era. Then came 2025 and a fresh start at Ferrari that ended early, with a retirement from seventh on the grid.
2026: the slide stops
The 2026 race was the first sign that Zandvoort and Ferrari might yet work. Hamilton qualified fifth and finished fourth, ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc and only a few seconds off the podium.
Twelve points is his biggest haul here since the 2021 duel with Max Verstappen, and it broke a four-year run in which his finishing position got worse every single year.
Lewis Hamilton's Dutch GP record year by year
The table tells a story of decline that has nothing to do with the driver and everything to do with the machinery underneath him.
| Year | Team | Grid | Finish | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Mercedes | 2nd | 2nd | 19 |
| 2022 | Mercedes | 4th | 4th | 12 |
| 2023 | Mercedes | 13th | 6th | 8 |
| 2024 | Mercedes | 14th | 8th | 4 |
| 2025 | Ferrari | 7th | DNF (retired) | 0 |
| 2026 | Ferrari | 5th | 4th | 12 |
The move to Ferrari
2025 was meant to reset the story. Instead his first Dutch Grand Prix in red ended in the garage. The second one, a year later, was far better: fifth on the grid, fourth at the flag and his best Zandvoort result since 2021. The record here still hinges on that single 2021 podium, but it is no longer heading in the wrong direction.
For all that Lewis Hamilton has won, the Dutch Grand Prix remains unfinished business. One runner-up finish and no win to show for six visits, though 2026 at least stopped the slide. Few circuits have kept him at arm's length quite like this one.
