WATCH: Lewis Hamilton narrowly escapes major incident with Esteban Ocon's Haas during practice session in Belgium

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

Lewis Hamilton had a close call during the first and only practice session of the 2025 F1 Belgian GP on Friday, July 25. The clip wasn't shown on the official broadcast, but as users uploaded it on social media, it went quite viral with the fans.

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Ferrari stepped down at Spa as they had only one session to test their new suspension upgrade for the Belgian Grand Prix due to the Sprint race weekend. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton consistently pushed throughout the session. The latter also faced a close call with Esteban Ocon's Haas during one of his hot laps.

In the onboard clip, the former Mercedes driver could be seen rushing through Blanchimont onto the straight that leads to the final chicane. Ocon, going on competitive speeds, seemed to slow down the moment Hamilton caught up with him. This forced the Ferrari to go off-track. While Hamilton managed to avoid a crash, it could have been a fatal crash for both drivers.

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Talking to his team via radio, Lewis Hamilton also mentioned that he had suddenly lost power as he was pushing on that lap.

"Okay because Ocon caught me at the end of the [straight] but I was pushing I was flat out.. lost power," he said.

Hamilton finished the session in P7 with Leclerc in P5. The latter showcased better overall performance, but Ferrari cars did not seem to have gained a lot from their current upgrade, considering other teams brought in upgrades as well.

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Lewis Hamilton aims to win a title with Ferrari, unlike other "great drivers"

Hamilton moved to Ferrari before the start of the 2025 season. While this was a major move, there have been multiple legendary drivers who have driven with the team during their prime years. However, not many of them had the chance to win a championship.

The last time Ferrari won a world championship was in the 2008 season. Since then, they've had championship-winning drivers like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, but none of them managed to win a title with Ferrari. However, Hamilton looks forward to changing that.

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Speaking to the media in Belgium, Lewis Hamilton clarified his goals with the team, while referring to some of the other "great drivers" who have been with Ferrari.

"If you look at the team for the last 20 years, they have had amazing drivers - Fernando, Kimi, Sebastian. Amazing drivers but they didn't win a title, and I refuse to have that happen with me," he told the media in Belgium.
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He added:

"If you do the same things you have the same results, so I'm challenging everything. They are very responsive. I'm here to win, I don't have much time so it is crunch time."

While this season hasn't been the perfect one for Ferrari so far, the team is expected to improve in the second half. Moreover, the new regulations in the 2026 season will reset the grid, which could give the Italian crew a chance to battle for the title.

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Edited by Gunaditya Tripathi
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