Lewis Hamilton has stated there were “encouraging” signs for Ferrari at the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, amid what became a disappointing afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps, for which he took the blame.
The Brit lined up fifth on the grid for the race, and got caught in a first-lap melee with former teammate George Russell at Les Combes, as contact between the two resulted in his countryman’s DNF.
And to compound matters further, Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for his involvement in the collision. Later in the race, a tyre stop also saw him make contact with a Ferrari mechanic after a pit box green light saw him put his foot down.
Mercifully, the mechanic was unharmed, and Hamilton made the most of the unfortunate set of circumstances to take fourth place, with teammate Charles Leclerc second.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Hamilton was frank in his assessment of his race, taking ownership for the contact and an error in qualifying, which saw him qualify sixth [before Lando Norris’ grid penalty].
“I don’t count myself unlucky. I think about my mistake that I made yesterday,” he said. “So, I take full responsibility really for the fourth place I ended up getting because I damaged the car.
“Then when they rebuilt the car, they missed something on the suspension. The balance was completely different. So that meant I was probably a good couple of tenths, maybe three tenths slower than I should have been in qualifying.
“And then I ended up further back, got in the incident, five-second penalty. So just like a domino effect from a mistake from myself. But the team have been doing a great job with strategy, pitstops. We are continuing to improve the car.”
Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari is ‘elevated across the board’
Ferrari has been panned for its strategy calls over recent seasons, but Hamilton has, without a doubt, benefitted from personal stability via Carlo Santi’s influence as his race engineer, having helped the seven-time World Champion to victory in Barcelona.
And whilst some intricacies will need ironing out, Hamilton saw the Scuderia’s nous throughout the Safety Car-influenced strategy calls in Belgium.
“Yeah, definitely really encouraging. I think the team has been making great decisions with strategy,” he said.
“I think we’ve really elevated a lot across the board in how we operate on the weekend, and then on Sunday, I think we had the pace to win.
“Given everything, to come away with the points we did, I’m really grateful.”
Hamilton is now looking to the Hungaroring, a track on which he has won eight times, to end the first half of the season on a high note, and cement second place in the Drivers’ standings.
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