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Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in the first round of sprint qualifying at the Belgian GP as the Briton spun on his final lap in SQ1 on Friday, July 25. Hamilton was downbeat after the session and took the blame for it. However, F1 pundit Anthony Davidson shared his surprise at the Ferrari driver taking the blame.
Lewis Hamilton found himself in the drop zone during the final moments of the SQ1 session at Spa Francorchamps and needed an improvement on his final lap to advance. However, as the former Mercedes driver was closing his lap, he locked up the rear tires going into the bus stop chicane, spun the car around, parked up in the run-off area, bringing out the yellow flags.
After the session, Lewis Hamilton was asked about his experience in the final corner, to which he replied (via F1TV interview)
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“I spun.”
Hamilton took the blame, suggesting it was the first time in his career that the rear end locked up, and claimed that the car didn't feel great. However, F1 pundit Anthony Davidson analysed the Ferrari driver's spin after the qualifying session, and suggested that there was something wrong with the Ferrari rather than Lewis’ inputs triggering the lock-up.
Davidson pointed at the rear axle locking and the clunking sound from the gearbox in the lead-up to the spin.
The F1 pundit also revealed his surprise reaction at Lewis Hamilton taking the blame for the crash, as he said (via Sky Sports):
“It’s surprising that he’s taken the blame for that. Maybe if he listens back to it again, and by the time he gets back to the data and works it through with the engineers, he might think differently.But at the moment, he’s a bit downtrodden and beating himself up for it.”
"They will clearly see that there was rear locking, and it’s quite hard for a driver to cause that, unless you’ve been a bit careless and thrown your brake bias too far to the rear. There’s only so much you can do on a flappy paddle gearbox to make the thing try to lock up. No matter what he says, the car spun him round to a certain degree,” he added.
Ferrari brought a rear suspension upgrade for the Belgian GP, which was tested last week at Mugello during the filming day.
Lewis Hamilton on Ferrari's rear suspension upgrade at Belgian GP
Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tested the new rear suspension at Mugello before the upgrade was brought to the Belgian GP. Hamilton seemingly struggled in the first practice session, with his SF25’s plank scraping the track more than any other competitor.
When asked about how his car felt after the Sprint qualifying, the 40-year-old said:
“Not great, not great..not really a lot to say. Tomorrow is a new day, so we'll try to, obviously I'm massively frustrated. Lot of work has gone in and to be there is not great."
When asked if the upgrade made the car any more drivable, Hamilton just shook his head and disagreed. The seven-time F1 champion will start the sprint race in P18, with his teammate Charles Leclerc starting on the second row in P4.
