Hamilton issues worrying Ferrari warning: 'The gap to Mercedes will be bigger here'
Photo: Race Pictures
Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton expects the Scuderia to trail Mercedes by a considerable margin this weekend at Spa, despite securing a double podium at the British Grand Prix.
Following his home Grand Prix, Hamilton closed the gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli after the Italian suffered a car issue that left him outside the points. Heading into this weekend, the seven-time world champion trails the young Italian by 32 points.
| F1 Standings | ||
| P1 | Kimi Antonelli | 179 points |
| P2 | George Russell | 154 points |
| P3 | Lewis Hamilton | 147 points |
Looking ahead to the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton expects Ferrari to trail Mercedes considerably due to the track's layout. He believes the gap will be well over a couple of tenths.
Speaking to GPblog, among others, he explained: "On this track, it's very difficult… This track has lots and lots of straights.
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"We went to Silverstone and we thought it was going to be much further down on power and we’re quick through the corners so it was far better than we anticipated. We're here again not really knowing what to expect, except for the track that is like 50% more straights.
Photo: Race Pictures
"So I think there still was a gap of maybe three or four tenths, maybe, in the last race. So here we're probably anticipating it probably will be a bit more. But we're doing everything we can."
Hamilton praises Ferrari's determination again
The Briton once again praised Ferrari's approach of continuously introducing updates to the SF-26 throughout the current season.
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He added: "In terms of just upgrades, I'm so proud of the team, they're just continuing to push to optimise the car. We're just making fine adjustments to it every week, which is great to see. Rather than one upgrade, several months later and then another comes, it's like every weekend we're just upgrading little bits whenever we find something."
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