Just twelve months ago, Lewis Hamilton fought back from his three year drought of Grand Prix victories to claim the top step of the podium in his Mercedes car at the 2024 Belgium Grand Prix. One year on having left his German life long racing sponsor, the seven times world champion is having a poor first season with his new Ferrari team.
Whilst the rains may well come in true Ardennes Forrest fashion on Sunday, Hamilton the once rainmeister will not be looking forward to the task ahead at the Spa Francochamps circuit. The weekend began badly for Lewis given he found himself over a second off the pace in free practice one on Friday.
In the qualifying session for the Sprint, Hamilton was on a lap which would have seen him easily transfer from SQ1 before an inexplicable spin at the final chicane saw him miss the cut and start the one third distance race from P18. Meanwhile in the other Ferrari Charles Leclerc qualified in P4, behind the McLaren’s and Max Verstappen.
Hamilton ‘disingenuous’
Ferrari have brought a number of upgrades to their SF-25 this weekend which appear to have moved them ahead of Mercedes, yet Hamilton was dismissive from the off as to the effect of the new parts. When asked at the FIA drivers’ press conference on Thursday how the car felt after a recent test with the upgrades in Mugelo Lewis stated: “The same as it did the weeks before. It was a photo shoot day, basically. So we did like 10 laps or whatever – 14 laps of filming. It was not a test.”
This was Lewis being disingenuous given its common knowledge that each of the Formula One teams are allowed two days a year to run their car for ‘filming’ and each team uses them to test new components, whilst also recording some promotional material at the same time.
Hamilton’s team mate Charles Leclerc was less dismissive of Ferrari’s efforts to improve the SF-25 admitting after Sprint qualifying he could feel a difference in the car. “Yes, it’s an upgrade and it’s a step in the right direction, but we are still speaking about very fine differences of a whole lap. So it feels a little bit different and it’s going in the right direction and again, that’s thanks to the hard work that the whole team has done back at the factory.”
Having bombed in the Sprint finishing in P15, Hamilton expressed his intentions for the Grand Prix were ‘reset’. Yet he would fair no better than he did on Friday afternoon, being knocked out again in the first session of qualifying. Mercedes sent Lewis out early for his first run, which for a while looked competitive.
Hamilton takes responsibility
Yet as the track ramped up during the eighteen minute long session, Hamilton found himself down in P16 and potentially out of qualifying. His final run was late in the session, with Lewis finishing his final push lap after the chequered flag had fallen.
The time was good enough to launch him to to seventh place, but a race control decision was made that he’d exceeded track limits at Radillon, which meant his time was deleted and Hamilton was again out in the first qualifying session.
Unlike earlier in the season when suffering a disappointing track session, Hamilton accepted it was his responsibility and not the car, something which would have been hard to defend given Charles Leclerc finished qualifying ahead of Max Verstappen in P3. “From my side, another mistake. I really have got to look internally. I have got to apologise to my team because it’s just unacceptable to be out in both Q1s. It’s a very, very poor performance from myself.”
With heavy rains in Belgium seeing the cancelation of the F3 feature race on Sunday morning, Hamilton has made the decision to start from the pit lane which allows Ferrari to further modify his car for the expected conditions. He will also increase the pool of regulated components, taking penalties for a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.
Lewis radical setup change for rain
Given his lowly starting position, refreshing his component allowance by taking penalties for the above is standard practice, although the aerodynamic changes to the SF-25 made in parc ferme are probably more important if Hamilton has any hope of scoring points this weekend.
Aston Martin were hoping for a better weekend, with the first signs of Adrian Newey’s influence coming to bear through a revised front wing which is a throw back to previous Red Bull Racing designs. Yet both Aston Martin drivers were out in Q1 and Fernando Alonso will start the race from the back row of the grid.
“It hurts for sure, I’m a little bit disappointed. The weekend so far has been not the most competitive one for us,” said Alonso. “Being the last two cars doesn’t reflect, I think, a little bit our performance in this year. It is something on this layout, on this track that is a little bit worse for our package and we need to understand that.”
3 pit lane starters ib Belgium
Kimi Antonelli will also join Hamilton and Alonso in starting from the pit lane and he appeared close to tears following his Q1 elimination, the first since the season opener in Australia. “It’s just a difficult period and I just need to get out of this and try to improve for the next one,” he said.
“The confidence has been missing,” he added. “I definitely also struggled to have the same feeling as yesterday, for example. I just really need to find the light out of the tunnel again,” muttered the young Italian. Nico Rosberg called on Toto Wolff to sign Antonelli’s new contract “this weekend” in an effort to ease the pressure on the rising Mercedes academy driver. Although the 2016 F1 champion admitted “if it all goes horribly wrong, it doesn’t cost much money,” suggesting Wolff could still ditch the rookie and play him off, were the remainder of the season be a disaster for Antonelli.
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The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
