Lewis Hamilton presents theory behind humbling Belgian GP moment as Ferrari left stumped

Lewis Hamilton believes that 'a new component' on his Ferrari played a role in the spin that dumped him out in the first part of sprint qualifying on Friday. The seven-time world champion started 18th for the mini race at the Belgian Grand Prix.

In the opening race of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, the legendary Brit crossed the line in 15th place after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon. This was a respectable outcome when compared to the moves made in the rest of the field, but due to a miserable Friday result, it counted for nothing at the chequered flag. Hamilton endured an SQ1 elimination, securing only 18th position due to an extraordinary spin he encountered during his final quick lap of that opening segment. The British driver was on a strong lap, but this came unstuck at the final chicane.

The rear of his Ferrari lost grip unexpectedly, with team principal Frederic Vasseur subsequently confirming that his driver had committed a critical mistake under braking.

Hamilton declared afterwards that it was "the first time, I think, in my career" that he had spun in such a manner. He also expressed being "massively frustrated" by the incident and described his car's performance as "not great".

After reflecting overnight and completing a largely unremarkable sprint race, Hamilton directed blame towards an upgraded component fitted to his car for the first time this weekend for causing the spin that denied him the opportunity to compete for points.

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He explained: "We understood [the problem]. We've got a new component on the car that Charles [Leclerc] 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."

Hamilton continued: "The brakes felt pretty good. I ultimately braked straight in the same position [in qualifying] as I did in [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."

Team-mate Leclerc was feeling downbeat after the sprint, where he finished fourth, a long way back from the podium despite overtaking Lando Norris on the opening lap. "I felt the changes, but the thing is that today the gap is huge," he said.

"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."