Lewis Hamilton confident of strong Belgian Grand Prix despite Ferrari’s post-shunt repair job

The seven-time Formula 1 World Champion will start from P5 because Lando Norris drops ten grid places. Hamilton believes a stronger result was available before his FP3 accident forced Ferrari into an extensive repair operation.

Hamilton hit the wall in the middle sector during final practice, damaging his SF-26. Ferrari replaced the suspension, floor, rear wing and gearbox before qualifying, getting the car ready in time for Q1.

The mechanics’ work allowed Hamilton to complete the 390th qualifying session of his Formula 1 career. However, he immediately felt the rebuilt car was not behaving exactly as it had before the crash.

Hamilton said: “The boys did a mega job to fix my damage after P3. The car was feeling amazing P3 and I really felt confident, not that we’d be fighting for pole because I think Mercedes are too fast.

“But I definitely think with the car that we had in P3 we probably could have been third or something like that. I was missing a couple of tenths once I got to qualy. The car wasn’t identical to what we ended up having in qualifying, but I did the best I could with what I had.”

Hamilton progressed safely through Q1 and was fourth fastest in Q2, despite Ferrari making further adjustments before the final runs. He eventually qualified sixth, only 0.032 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc. 

Hamilton acknowledged Ferrari could not match Mercedes in qualifying, particularly through Spa-Francorchamps’ power-sensitive opening and final sectors. He believes the biggest deficit came from straight-line performance.

He explained: “I’m not quite sure [what the deficit is]. Definitely in the last sector we seem to have lost the most, and that is pure grunt. And a little bit in sector one, but they’re just really fast.

“It’s to be expected at this track. We expected them to be very, very fast, and they are everywhere. Just in qualifying, they seem to have that bit extra to everyone else.”

Nevertheless, Hamilton remains convinced Ferrari can challenge the cars ahead over the race distance. Starting P5 keeps him close to Leclerc, George Russell, Verstappen and polesitter Antonelli: “I definitely think we can go forwards tomorrow. I’ll be giving absolutely everything to try to catch them up.”

In the sister car, British Grand Prix winner Leclerc was satisfied with his opening Q3 lap but lost time during his final attempt after lifting for yellow flags near the pit lane.

The Monegasque admitted Ferrari had extracted almost everything available from the car: “There may have been a few hundredths to gain there, but there wasn’t much more to extract from our car today. Our pace overall looks quite solid."

Leclerc continued: "Even if our competitors are performing at a very high level and there is still a significant gap to them. We will see what we can bring home tomorrow. This track doesn’t really suit the characteristics of our car.

"It could be challenging to overtake and defend during the race, especially in the straight lines. We will push to gain some positions at the start and take it from there. A podium would be a good result for us,” he concluded.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur thanked the mechanics for rebuilding Hamilton’s car between FP3 and qualifying. He admitted the repaired SF-26 lacked stability and remained vulnerable in Spa’s first and final sectors.

Vasseur said: “Firstly, a big thank you to the team for the incredible job they did getting the car back together after FP3. I’m grateful as always for all their hard work.

“The car lacked some stability in qualifying, and we knew that the first and last sectors would be our biggest challenge, but we managed to extract the maximum from today’s package.”

Ferrari may not possess the qualifying speed of Mercedes or Verstappen at Spa, but both cars start inside the top five. Hamilton’s confidence, despite the interrupted preparation and altered balance, gives Ferrari a chance to turn a difficult Saturday into a stronger Sunday.
(Reporting by Agnes Carlier from Spa-Francorchamps)