SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (Belgium) — Lewis Hamilton thanked his Ferrari crew for their rapid work on his badly-damaged car after he bounced back to qualify sixth for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion crashed at the end of third free practice before winding up only 0.002 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who was fifth.
“The boys did a mega job to fix my damage,” he said.
“The car was feeling amazing in FP3 and I was confident that, if not fighting for pole because Mercedes are too fast, we could probably be third or something.
“I was missing a couple of tenths, and once I got to ‘quali’ the car wasn’t identical, but I did my best.”
He suggested Ferrari were losing out to Mercedes – for whom championship leader Kimi Antonelli secured his sixth pole of the season – on pure power and pace.
“They’re just so fast,” he said according to AFP. “It’s to be expected at this track. We expected it, but I think we can go forward.”
Leclerc, who won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, said: “Silverstone was a bit of a standout weekend, but here it’s not – it’s a bit more the way we expected it.
“I’m a bit disappointed. I think it’s just raw power. We are pretty strong on grip and they’re strong on the power.”
