Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari held the upper hand in race trim at the Belgian Grand Prix, as he resisted Sebastian Vettel during a tense race-long duel.
Hamilton maintained his lead at the start and held a slender buffer back to Vettel throughout, though a Safety Car period theoretically played into Vettel’s hands.
Both drivers pitted but Mercedes did not have any fresh Ultra Softs, meaning Hamilton was put on Softs, while Vettel was able to use the purple-ringed compound.
Vettel challenged Hamilton at the restart but the Briton held firm along the Kemmel Straight, after which he pulled clear, maintaining a 1.5s advantage for the final 10 laps.
“Ferrari has generally had the upper hand particularly on race pace throughout the weekend and was very, very strong today,” said Hamilton.
“Sebastian was obviously very, very close [at the restart], and the front tyres weren’t switched on initially.
“He got a good tow, I think he was a little bit too close down the run out of Turn 1 so I think he probably had to lift off else he would have come by potentially before Eau Rouge.
“He did a great race, he was very consistent throughout, it was fun to be racing against firstly another team and against Sebastian really at his best, with the car at the best, being so close.
“I was just battling within half a tenth every single lap, it’s what racing’s about, they’re able to keep up, follow quite closely, for a long long time.
“So I think ultimately they had the better pace but fortunately I was able to do enough to just stay ahead.”
Hamilton closed Vettel’s title advantage to seven points with victory.
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