Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton got eliminated from Q1 at the Belgium Grand Prix after his final lap time was deleted.
The shock result comes after Hamilton also got knocked out of SQ1 for the sprint race, where he ended up finishing 15th after only making up a couple of positions.
Hamilton had a top-seven lap deleted after he violated track limits at Radillon. He finished just 0.031 seconds away from getting through to Q2.
Rookie driver Gabriel Bortoleto made it through instead of the British driver.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
This is the first time that Hamilton has missed out on qualifying in the top 15 for a grand prix this season.
After his elimination, the seven-time champion took accountability for the shocking result.
“Well it is what it is, that’s my mistake, so I’m just really sorry to the team for all the hard work, all the testing, you know, the filming day that we did, and all the preparation, and then you come here and you don’t even make it through Q1, which is unacceptable. I’m really sorry,” Hamilton added after the session.
Hamilton came into this season with high expectations, but he hasn’t managed to achieve a podium finish at a grand prix.
This race weekend seemed to carry over the poor first half of the season into the first race of the second half.
“I was the same as I was for the rest of the weekend. We made some changes, the car didn’t feel terrible,” the British driver said.
“I think it was not so easy to… It was even tough for us; we had to put a second set on just to get through Q1. So, not great.
“And then from my side, another mistake. So I really got to look internal. I got to apologize to my team because it’s just unacceptable to be out in both Q1s. It’s a very, very poor performance for myself.”
Belgium Grand Prix Qualifying Results
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Ollie Bearman (Haas)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
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