The Belgian Grand Prix weekend has so far been one to forget for Lewis Hamilton. He not only got knocked out in SQ1 ahead of the Sprint Race, but he also got knocked out in Q1 for the Grand Prix itself. This is one of the worst qualifying performances of his career.
Ever since joining Ferrari, Hamilton has not put in his best performances. Until this year, there has been only one season in Lewis’s career where he finished without a win. This year could be his second, considering how far off Ferrari is compared to McLaren. Adding to their existing problems, Hamilton is starting P16 in tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton issues apology to Ferrari after qualifying at Spa
Heading into the weekend, the team did a lot of work behind the scenes to introduce a new upgrade. While Charles Leclerc was able to utilize this to put his car in P3 for tomorrow’s race start, Hamilton got knocked out in Q1. Here’s what he said during the post-qualifying show on Sky Sports F1:
“And then from my side, another mistake,” he explained to Sky Sports F1. “So I really got to look internal. I got to apologise to my team because it’s just unacceptable to be out in both Q1s. It’s a very, very poor performance for myself.”
His knockout during qualifying was not a fault of the car or a pace issue. Instead, it was Hamilton’s own fault as he exceeded track limits while taking on Eau Rouge during his final hot lap in Q1. If the time had not been deleted, it would have been good enough for P7 in Q1. This could have even led to a top 5 starting position later on.
Ferrari’s team principal, Fred Vasseur, himself stated that Hamilton’s issue in qualifying was not with the car, but instead just a small but costly mistake he made.
Will Hamilton start from the pit lane after a poor qualifying?
Given that Lewis has qualified P16 for the Belgian Grand Prix, he could make some changes to the car to unlock some more performance for the race. By doing so, he will have to start the race from the pit lane due to the Parc Ferme rules. However, the loss won’t be much as the 7-time champion will start P16 at best without any changes.
However, Hamilton has suggested that they probably won’t make any changes:
“I don’t think there’s really much we can do,” Hamilton said when asked if making changes to the car would be worthwhile and starting from the pitlane for the race. “So I just try and start from where I am and see where I can get from there.”
Having said that, the weather could play a part here. There is an 80% chance of rain during the scheduled start time for the race. So Hamilton could stand to gain a tenth or two by making some changes to accommodate the wet weather conditions.
