Downbeat Hamilton reacts to tough Belgian GP Sprint: ‘It was a really tough race’

14:06, 26 Jul

bySamson Ero

Lewis Hamilton has weighed in on his outing at the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint. The British driver also shared his thoughts on the upgrades to the SF-25 car at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

The 40-year-old, who endured a forgettable Sprint qualifying session, struggled to make up significant places during the race and finished the Spa Sprint event in 15th place. Weighing in on his performance, a largely downbeat Hamilton told Sky Sports F1:

“Well, the positive is I didn’t spin and I did move forward, but it was a really tough race. We were all in the DRS train, which was unfortunate, but I’ve definitely learned a lot about the upgrades that we have.”

“I was just reflecting — part of the upgrade Charles [Leclerc] has had since Montreal — and you saw the crash that he had there. It was similar to something that I experienced yesterday.”

Hamilton eyes improvement for qualifying and the main race

The seven-time champion, looking ahead to the next qualifying session, explained that his focus has temporarily shifted to fine-tuning the upgrades for the remainder of the weekend.

“So it’s just about fine-tuning it. Yesterday was the first time running it for me and I think now it’s just about fine-tuning it. We can make some changes between now and quali. My actual pace in [Sprint] quali was pretty good — not so much, I would say, in the race — but position is obviously important here. I’m hoping for a better result today.”

Hamilton’s outing at the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint marked a subtle dip in the upward trajectory that he and the Ferrari team had seemingly been on, particularly since the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. The former Mercedes driver will now aim to turn the weekend around when the lights go out for the start of qualifying.