“A weekend to forget” for Hamilton despite a fine recovery to 7th place
Lewis Hamilton described his Belgian Grand Prix as "clearly a weekend to forget", despite climbing 11 places and finishing in the points.
The seven-time world champion experienced a complicated weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, unable to surpass Q1 during both the Sprint and main race qualifications, after going off track and then having a lap time canceled for exceeding track limits.
A beautiful climb up to 7th place
Forced to start from the pit lane due to changes in the power unit and car setup, Lewis Hamilton made steady progress, notably thanks to several overtakes in the final chicane and at the entrance of Les Combes, bringing him up to 13th place.
With a rapid improvement in conditions after a start delayed by heavy rain, Lewis Hamilton was the first to switch from worn intermediate tires to Pirelli’s medium compounds – a smart choice that allowed him to climb up to 7th place, following the flurry of pit stops.
If he didn’t manage to overtake Alex Albon’s Williams, he still crossed the line in seventh position and was voted Driver of the Day for his performance on a circuit where he has already won five times.
“I always appreciate these kinds of conditions,” said the Briton. “It was extremely tricky starting from so far back, especially when at the beginning, you really couldn’t see much.”
« We had a rolling start, which, in my opinion, was not necessary. I’m not really sure why they did it because the track had dried quite a bit and there weren’t that many water splashes. But anyway, I’m happy to have been able to come back from the back and score points. »
“It’s not the result I wanted this weekend, it’s clearly a weekend to forget. But there are positive elements to take away from the car today. The team did a great job, as always, especially with the strategy, so a big thank you to them. I will try to do better for them next weekend,” he says.
Encouraging progress
Lewis Hamilton struggles overall to compete with his teammate Charles Leclerc this season, with the Monegasque finishing third at Spa. Braking remains one of the Briton’s weak points.
He nevertheless expressed satisfaction with the progress made in this area during the race, even though he admits it handicapped him at the beginning of the weekend: “We adjusted things better and it was clear that I was making a comeback, I was gaining more and more confidence with each lap,” explained Hamilton.
« The FP1 followed directly by the Sprint Qualifying with these new brakes clearly caught me out. But we will learn from it », he concluded.
