Lewis Hamilton issues apology to Ferrari after dismal qualifying performance in the F1 Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton had a torrid sprint race and aimed to get himself back on track during qualifying to have a better opportunity at scoring a major points haul in the main race. However, he was knocked out after the first qualifying hurdle in Q1 as he qualified P16, leading him to apologize to the team.

The F1 paddock had been waiting to see Ferrari's new rear-suspension upgrade package in action at the Belgian GP weekend. While Hamilton's elimination from SQ1 was not his fault, owing to his rear-axle locking up, the same cannot be said for his Q1 knockout.

The Briton was on the bubble of progressing to Q2 when he put in a respectable lap to drive away any concerns of him not moving on to the next qualifying segment. But a track limit violation at Raidillon saw his lap time being deleted, dropping him down to 16th.

The seven-time champion's misjudgement appeared as an anomaly for a driver of his calibre. Moreover, Hamilton was aware of the severe mistake he made on a critical lap, as he apologized to the team for the Q1 elimination and said in his post-qualifying interview:

"That's my mistake, so I'm just really sorry to the team for all the hard work. All the testing, you know, the filming day that we did, and all the preparation, and then you come here and you don't even make it through Q1, which is unacceptable. I'm really sorry."

Hamilton's 2025 campaign appeared to be picking up speed in the last few weeks, but he seems to have hit a roadblock during the Belgian GP weekend.

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Lewis Hamilton admits he has to look internally after successive Q1 eliminations

Lewis Hamilton at the qualifying for the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari with a myriad of expectations. His ambition to bring back championship glory to Maranello has not gone according to plan so far.

While the Briton has often condemned the SF-25 for not being on par with the front runners and often being the slowest of the top-four teams, this time, it was his fault. Moreover, Hamilton raised his hands and quickly accepted his responsibility for the subpar qualifying result, as he said in his post-qualifying interview with Sky Sports:

"From my side, another mistake. I really have to look internally, I have to apologize to my team because it's just unacceptable to be up in both Q1s. It's a very, very poor performance from myself."

Despite two sub-optimal qualifying results, Lewis Hamilton has a comfortable lead over Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' standings, as the Italian also faced double Q1 eliminations during the Belgian GP weekend.