The Belgian Grand Prix sprint was one to quickly forget for Lewis Hamilton who suffered a qualifying shocker in his Ferrari which scuppered his chances of points

Lewis Hamilton suffered a Belgium sprint to forget(Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton blamed “a new component” on his Ferrari for the spin which scuppered his chances of points in the Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps. The first of two races at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix saw the seven-time Formula 1 champion finish well outside the points.

He managed a few overtakes over the 15 laps but never had a realistic chance of making it to the top eight after a qualifying disaster. Hamilton suffered a SQ1 exit, qualifying just 18th because of an unusual spin he suffered while on his final flying lap of that first part of the session.

The Brit had almost completed his full lap when it all unravelled at the final chicane. The rear end of his Ferrari span out unexpectedly and team principal Frederic Vasseur later confirmed that his driver had made a crucial error under braking.

Hamilton claimed afterwards that it was “the first time, I think, in my career”, that he had spun out in that way. He also said he was “massively frustrated” by what had happened and that his car’s performance was “not great”.

Having slept on it, and then participated in a largely uneventful sprint race, Hamilton pointed his finger at an upgraded part that is on his car for the first time this weekend for causing the spin that cost him the chance to fight for points.

He said: “We understood [the problem]. We’ve got a new component on the car that Charles [Leclerc, his team-mate] had in Montreal, and he’s had it for a few races, but that’s the first time I’ve had it.

“Charles, you remember, he crashed with it in Montreal, and then I had the same experience in my first run with it yesterday.” He offered little more detail, other than to suggest that the brakes themselves were not the problem.

He added: “The brakes felt pretty good. I ultimately braked straight in the same position [in qualifying] as I did in [first practice] but a little bit more pressure and it snapped the rears. So I understood it, got a bit of running [with] it just now and hopefully that won’t be a problem – hopefully.

Ferrari have more upgrades this weekend which Leclerc felt improved the car, though he said the team remains some way off the pace of the front-running cars. He said: “I felt the changes, but the thing is that today the gap is huge. I’m sure we did a step forward, but for some reason the McLaren seems to be even faster than usual around this track.

“So it’s a bit disappointing on that side of things, but I think what we were searching for with those upgrades, we had it. It’s just a shame to have such a difficult qualifying session, especially in terms of gaps.”