Why did Ferrari go AWOL on day one at Spa?

Hamilton finished second behind Max Verstappen in the opening FP1 session at Spa-Francorchamps, with Charles Leclerc third, but Ferrari slipped down the order as Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren showed stronger pace in FP2.

The seven-time F1 World Champion ended the later session fourth, more than seven-tenths of a second behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who set the fastest time for Mercedes. Leclerc endured a more difficult session and finished outside the top 10 after his quickest lap on the soft tyres was deleted.

Hamilton was nevertheless encouraged by Ferrari’s progress and said the car had provided a solid platform throughout the Friday: “Pretty good day in general. Positive, we made steps forward, relatively clean sessions.

“We made a couple of changes into FP2. The gap seems a bit bigger today, at least in FP2, than anticipated, but hopefully we can try and close that tomorrow. Overall, we generally feel good.”

Hamilton acknowledged Ferrari would need to make overnight improvements before qualifying, particularly after Mercedes made a significant step between the two Friday sessions.

The Briton also identified the middle sector as a weakness, although he remained uncertain about the true competitive order after a closely fought day at Spa: “The others look really strong. Obviously Red Bull look really strong. Mercedes picked up a lot of pace in the sessions. McLaren were looking good as well so I really don’t know.

“As I said, the car feels pretty decent but we’re lacking a little bit in the middle sector for some reason. We’re just looking into why that is and see if we can pick that up tomorrow. I love driving this track, it’s amazing," added Hamilton.

Ferrari arrived in Belgium having won two of the previous three Grands Prix, but Team Principal Fred Vasseur cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from Friday’s timesheets.

Different fuel loads, engine settings and run programmes can distort the practice order, while recent race weekends have shown that Friday performance is not always carried into qualifying. Vasseur explained: “We know that fuel is mega important in terms of competitiveness – it means that we can’t compare with the others.

“We focus on ourselves, try to get the best from what we have and we’ll see tomorrow afternoon. If you have a look at the last four or five rounds, the classification on Friday is not really representative. We have a lot of work to do," acknowledged Vasseur.

Ferrari will now analyse why Hamilton lost time through the middle sector as the Italian team seek to bring themselves back into contention with Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren on Saturday.