Against the odds, Lewis Hamilton showcased a brilliant recovery at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, Belgian GP, where he showed the world yet once again why he is the seven-time F1 world champion. Starting from the pit lane, Hamilton passed the chequered flag in the 7th and garnered 6 points for his team, Ferrari. The British driver was also voted as the Driver of the Day.
Overnight set-up changes
Originally, the British driver placed 16th at the end of the qualifying session. However, due to a change in the Ferrari’s F1 challenger SF-25’s set-up and power unit components, Hamilton had to start the Sunday race at Spa from the pit lane.
Ferrari had already come to the Belgian Grand Prix with some new upgrades to its SF-25. The new upgrade was a rear suspension geometry along with lower wishbones and various fairings and winglets to improve aerodynamic performance and make the car less sensitive to height changes. The British driver mentioned previously that he did not witness any differences by looking at the teams’ simulator stats. Nevertheless, Hamilton said that the set-up changes they made to SF-25 overnight helped him to have a better race at Spa.
“Obviously, it was challenging being way back there. I made some changes overnight.
“So much in the build-up to this week. With the upgrade that we had, there are basically two elements to it. One of those elements, we had it to test back in Montreal. But I didn’t end up testing it. Charles ended up testing it, and he ended up using part of it for a couple of races.
“So he definitely did a great job today. He’s feeling more acclimatised.
“For me, it was the first time using it. That spin that he had caught me out because we did not set up. Also, the change of engineers.
“I think we did a really good job overnight to rectify some of those. Tweak it, fine-tune it, and the car was so much better than it had arrived.”
New engineer on Hamilton’s side of the garage
With new upgrades inserted in SF-25, Hamilton faces another novelty in his team: a new engineer, although who it is remains unlmown. Although the Briton mentioned its hardship, he also showed a sign of relief at knowing the engineer from his previous team.
“It’s not easy to switch engineers within the middle of a season. But it’s someone that I’ve known for years as actually on my team, my previous team with me, but not in that position.
“We’re getting used to each other and learning, having to learn like super, super quick.
“I think the changes that we had really caught both of us out. But I think we did a great job overnight. We’ll just get stronger and stronger.”
Late start to the race
Due to low visibility at the track caused by the rainy weather induce the race to start one and a half hours late. Some drivers, including Hamilton and Verstappen, were critical about the delay and found it way too long. The British driver took aim at the “overreaction” and reflected that the delay was probably triggered more by the situation Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar experienced in Silverstone.
“We obviously started the race a little too late, I would say. I kept shouting, like it’s ready to go, it’s ready to go. It kept going around and around and around.
“I think they were probably overreacting from the last race, where we asked them not to restart the race too early, because visibility was bad. I think this weekend, they just went a bit too much the other way, because we didn’t need a roll to start the race.”
Hamilton further detailed that his car was already set up for wet conditions. To the British driver, a standing start was possible. Meanwhile, the wet conditions lasted less than one-third of the race distance.
“My car was set up for that [rain], they waited for it to dry pretty much.
“They definitely could have done a standing start, especially at the end there, because it was almost a dry line.
“There was hardly any spray. So they definitely could have done it.”
A good recovery
Though he started from the pit lane, Hamilton showcased a brilliant race pace and strategy. He attributed his success to the team and the new upgrades and set-up they brought to Sunday. The Ferrari driver was happy that he finally gave his team a race execution they deserve.
The red team also outscored Mercedes by 21 points to 10. In the Constructors’ Standings, Ferrari is currently standing at second place behind McLaren and ahead of the Silver Arrows by 28 points.
“Everyone in the team worked so hard. Everyone back in the factory worked so hard. We obviously had these upgrades. And then when you come and put a performance like I had in the past two days, it’s tough.
“It’s, you know, that’s not what the team deserves.
“As I said, it wasn’t a case of necessarily coming in and not being in the right mind through the weekend. There were a few factors that did affect, particularly on Friday. Saturday was fine. But I recovered today.
“I had a lot of fun trying to make my way through.
“So we got some points. We outscored Mercedes in points. It was very good.
“Charles did a great job. Clearly the car is improving, because Charles was able to hold on to the podium. We’re going to work hard next week to try and win the first one.”
Potentially missed an exciting race
Hamilton was asked his thoughts on whether he believes the sport was heading in a direction that is too cautious to prevent some fun from happening in the race.
He said that the collision between Antonelli and Hadjar and the feedback of the drivers in Silverstone caused the long delay at Spa. Hamilton expressed that the visibility on the track was actually not that bad; however, the race control grew more sensitive to this issue over the races. The Ferrari driver believes that a potentially exciting race was missed due to the long delay.
“I think it was just a reaction to Silverstone. I think Silverstone was mega.
“We sat down and spoke about it. Of course, the driver said in the last race we shouldn’t have restarted. So I think they just focused on visibility.
“As soon as someone up ahead said visibility was really bad, which was great, but it wasn’t as bad as the last race. I think they just waited just to be sure.
“I think they still did a good job. Of course, we did miss some of the extreme wet racing, which I think would have been nice.
“But for some reason, the spray here is really, or this year at least, it’s like going through fog. I don’t know what we’re going to do to try and fix it.”
Regained confidence
After experiencing some difficulties in reaching the front rows at the first half of the season, Hamilton showed sign of regained confidence on his talents and car. He promised to work more on excelling the car for the next grand prix ahead and garnering better results for the team.
“I think this one is definitely one to put behind me. I definitely feel confident going forward here.
“As I said, having learned more about the car today, fine-tuned it, I’ll set that up better for next week.
“We’ll be at the factory on Wednesday. I don’t see why we wouldn’t have better results than before.”
