Brundle explains away Hamilton debacle at Spa: 'Not his fault'

The Ferrari driver lacked raw speed throughout the one and only practice session in Belgium, and Hamilton's struggles transferred into Sprint Qualifying.

He ran wide at Stavelot, which undid his first flying lap. This put Hamilton under significant pressure throughout the rest of SQ1 with just one set of tyres available.

Hamilton had to deliver a second effort but spun at the Bus Stop chicane, ending any chances of progressing into SQ2 on the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

As Hamilton could only set a time good enough for 18th on the grid for Saturday's Sprint, he was downbeat afterwards, but Brundle feels there may have been issues with the SF-25.

He told Sky Sports F1: "His rear axle broke up under braking, highly unusual. I don't think there's anyone more surprised at that than Lewis Hamilton."

Brundle continued: "It looks like a technical issue. Nobody will be more surprised than Lewis. It’s almost like the engine sort of stalled out, and every time he pulled another shift it’s just locked the rear axle."

The lacklustre outing in Sprint Qualifying will give Hamilton a tall order to score points in the top eight places.

There was a lot of optimism around Ferrari heading into the weekend with their new rear suspension on the car, but Sprint Qualifying was a session of mixed fortunes for the Italian team.

Hamilton could only manage P18 while his teammate, Charles Leclerc, extracted a lot more from the Ferrari and starts the Sprint from fourth place.

Despite the disappointing Sprint Qualifying, Hamilton will have a chance to redeem himself with qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday.