Ferrari Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton was “massively frustrated” after his SF-25 F1 car oversteered unusually at the penultimate corner of Spa-Francorchamps during the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race qualifying.
Hamilton was on a flying lap in SQ1, and just as he approached the second-to-last corner, his car’s rear locked up momentarily, leading him to spin out and go off the race track.
A technical fault is suspected to be behind the incident, given the way in which his SF-25 spun out. Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson also noted the clunking in the audio when Hamilton was downshifting. Davidson stated:
“I hear a lot of locking in the rear axle on the car. That clunking is backlash in the gearbox. I don’t blame the driver for that moment. Something is going on there in the downshift phase of that Ferrari. I give Lewis the benefit of the doubt for that one.”
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Sky F1’s Martin Brundle also ruled out Hamilton’s fault. He said:
“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.”
Ferrari came into the race weekend with a new rear suspension. However, a frustrated Hamilton wasn’t too positive about the new change on the SF-25 after the incident. He will start the sprint race in P18 on Saturday. Speaking to the media after the sprint qualifying session, he admitted that it was the first time in his career that his car’s rear had locked up. When asked by Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater what happened, he said:
“I spun.”
Asked if it was a rear lock, he said:
“[Yeah] First time, I think, in my career.”
When asked for his assessment of the car, he said:
“Not great, not great. Yeah, there’s not really a lot to say.”
Hamilton pointed out during the British Grand Prix that the SF-25 was undriveable. When asked if the car had become more drivable with the suspension upgrade, he shook his head, suggesting that there had been no improvement.
Quizzed on his thoughts for the sprint race the next day, which follows the qualifying session for the main race, he said:
“Tomorrow’s a new day, so we’ll try to…Obviously, I’m massively frustrated, so… A lot of work’s gone in, and to be there is not really great. So, yeah, hopefully tomorrow will be better.”
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc managed to secure the fourth position for the sprint race behind Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris in the same order.