Lewis Hamilton faced a disappointing setback during the qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix. Initially, he believed he had secured a spot in the next round of qualifying, only to have his fastest lap time invalidated by Formula 1 stewards.
Hamilton found himself in a precarious position in the lower rankings and needed a strong performance on his final run. Despite his efforts that initially lifted him to seventh place on the timesheets, his joy was short-lived. The stewards reviewed his lap and determined that he had exceeded track limits at Spa-Francorchamps by running all four wheels over the white line in the challenging Eau Rouge and Raidillon section.
Although onboard cameras from his Ferrari provided inconclusive evidence, a static off-board camera confirmed that Hamilton had indeed gone off the track boundaries. The FIA corroborated this decision, stating that the seven-time F1 champion had clearly breached the track limits.
Hamilton was caught off guard by the news of his lap deletion, as he received minimal communication from his race engineer upon returning to the garage. The confirmation of his lap being disqualified left him disappointed, as he plummeted to 16th place on the timesheets.
This marked a rare occurrence for Ferrari, as it was the first time a Ferrari car failed to progress from Q1 in a full Grand Prix qualifying session since Carlos Sainz in 2023. Hamilton’s misfortune continued, having also faced a setback during the Sprint race grid-setting session earlier in the weekend, where he spun out, preventing him from setting a competitive lap time.
Hamilton attributed his earlier spin to a new component on his Ferrari that he was unfamiliar with. Despite acknowledging the issue, he expressed optimism that he had gained valuable experience with the new setup and hoped to avoid similar problems moving forward.