LEWIS HAMILTON, last year’s winner with Mercedes, apologised to Ferrari for an unacceptable performance after failing to get through the first phase of Belgian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
The seven-times world champion, who has yet to stand on the podium since his move to Maranello in January, will start 16th on Sunday after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits.
The Briton had already endured a nightmare in Saturday’s sprint race, starting 18th after a spin in qualifying at the penultimate corner. He finished 15th.
Hamilton is a five-times winner in Belgium, one off Michael Schumacher’s record at the circuit.
He won at Spa last year after then teammate George Russell was disqualified from first when his car was found to be underweight.
“We made some changes, the car didn’t feel terrible,“ Hamilton told Sky Sports television.
“And then from my side, another mistake… I’ve got to apologise to my team because it’s just unacceptable to be out in both Q1s (first qualifying for the sprint and main race).
“It’s a very, very poor performance for myself.”
Hamilton added that starting from the pitlane, allowing mechanics to work on the car before the race, would probably not improve matters.
“I don’t think there’s really much we can do,“ he said. “So I just try and start from where I am and see where I can get from there.”
He questioned the actual offence, however, and said he would be taking it up with the stewards.
“I don’t agree, no, but I’m out,“ he said.
Teammate Charles Leclerc went through to the final shootout and qualified third, something he had not expected.
“We thought we were quite a lot more back. We knew that we had something more in the car with the upgrade this weekend but we still struggled yesterday, but that was a really, really good lap,“ he said- REUTERS
