“A difficult race” for Hamilton and Bottas in Belgium
Third and fourth at the start, the Mercedes drivers were able to move up a spot in the standings thanks to an unsuccessful strategy for Sebastian Vettel. Nevertheless, the verdict is clear for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, the Ferraris were too fast today.
Relegated to over eight-tenths behind in qualifying by Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas knew the race would be tough against the Ferraris. After several laps in the first stint on soft tires, the conclusion was clear: Leclerc and Vettel managed to create a satisfactory gap over Hamilton and Bottas.
« From my point of view, I did the best I could, the strategy could have been a little better. When Sebastian stopped, I tried to get closer to Charles, but he was very fast on the softs. » admits Lewis Hamilton in the conference after the race.
A very early stop for Vettel forced him to make a second stop at the end of the race, eliminating him from the podium contention. This decline of the German represents the only step forward in the standings for the Silver Arrows. Upon getting out of the car, Bottas acknowledged it: “It’s a decent result but the race didn’t go as we wanted. I didn’t have the opportunity to fight for the victory today. We were able to pass Sebastian with the strategy, we have to take it as it is.”
At the end of the Grand Prix, during the second stint on medium tires, the situation somewhat reversed when Lewis Hamilton became much faster than Charles Leclerc and was closing in significantly. It was fun today to be able to chase Charles at the end of the race, unfortunately, he was just a bit too fast.
For Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari was above the rest this weekend. « I gave it everything I had. It was a tough race, the Ferraris were simply too fast on the straights for us. »
From our correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps
