Lewis Hamilton has revealed that his Ferrari was significantly damaged during the Belgian GP due to the collision with George Russell. According to the seven-time world champion, the incident cost about ’50 points’ of downforce, making a possible victory out of reach. Hamilton ultimately finished fourth. A small consolation: he passed his former teammate again in the championship and now occupies second place.
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Hamilton started the race at Spa-Francorchamps from fifth position and immediately tried to gain places. However, in the opening lap, he collided with Russell entering the fifth corner. The Mercedes driver ended up in the gravel trap, while Hamilton was able to continue, albeit with a damaged Ferrari. He ultimately did not get further than fourth place. “We had the pace to win today,” Hamilton sighed afterwards to Viaplay. “But well, I had that damage.”
Costly damage
“I was still very fast, but I had lost about 50 points of downforce,” he explained. “If you take that into account in the final result, I absolutely sign for fourth place.” The Briton received a five-second time penalty after the incident for causing the collision and served it during his pit stop. In addition, he was investigated after the race for a possible unsafe release, after hitting a mechanic when leaving his pit box.
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“I really struggled with the car because of the damage I had sustained,” Hamilton said. “So yes, I definitely had a hard time, but I gave it my all. I pushed as hard as I could, but even after the last pit stop I still had a lot of understeer; I could barely keep up with the cars in front of me.” Hamilton emphasized at the end that he had already suffered the biggest loss during qualifying. “If Saturday had gone better, I would have had a much stronger race.”
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