Lewis Hamilton “frustrated” after sprint qualifying spin as blame questioned by Ant Davidson

Lewis Hamilton spun out during SQ1 in Belgium after locking up the rear wheels going into the final chicane. As a result, the seven-time champion will start the Belgian sprint race from 18th on the grid. 

Sky Sports F1 commentator and former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle branded the incident as “highly unusual” during the broadcast. 

“His rear axle broke up under braking – highly unusual,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anyone more surprised at that than Lewis Hamilton.”

It came as no surprise that the British driver was frustrated following the session. 

“First time I think in my career,” he said, when asked if it was caused by rear locking. Speaking about the overall feeling in the car, he added, “Not great. There’s not really a lot to say.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, Hamilton is hopeful that he can turn it around. 

“Tomorrow’s a new day, so we’ll try to… obviously I’m massively frustrated. A lot of work has gone in, and to be there is not really great, so hopefully tomorrow will be better.” 

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Former driver and Sky Sports analyst Anthony Davidson felt it was surprising that the Ferrari driver seemed to take the blame for the incident. 

“It’s surprising that he’s taken the blame for that,” he explained. “Maybe if he listens back to it again, and by the time he gets back to the data and works it through with the engineers, he might think differently.

“But at the moment, he’s a bit downtrodden and beating himself up for it.

“They will clearly see that there was rear locking, and it’s quite hard for a driver to cause that, unless you’ve been a bit careless and thrown your brake bias too far to the rear.

“There’s very little a driver can do in these digital cars that they drive. They’re not very analogue these days. There’s only so much you can do on a flappy paddle gearbox to make the thing try to lock up.

“No matter what he says, the car spun him round to a certain degree.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc is set to start the sprint race from fourth on the grid. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri claimed pole position.

Photos from Belgian GP – Friday