Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari car changed after Spa FP3 crash cost him two tenths. Lewis Hamilton explains how FP3 crash affected Ferrari in Spa qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that his Ferrari did not feel the same after his heavy FP3 crash at Spa-Francorchamps, with the seven-time world champion believing he was missing around two tenths in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from fifth on the grid, 0.534 seconds away from Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pole position and only 0.002 seconds behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. However, the British driver’s qualifying result came after a major repair job by Ferrari following his Saturday-morning accident.

Ferrari repairs Lewis Hamilton’s car after FP3 crash

During the final practice session, Lewis Hamilton struck the barriers heavily, leaving Ferrari in a race against time to replace the floor, gearbox, suspension components and wing before qualifying. The team completed the work successfully, allowing the British driver to take part in the session and secure fifth place.

The extent of Ferrari’s work underlined the pressure placed on the mechanics ahead of a crucial qualifying session, amid a Spa weekend in which teams were also assessing their circuit-specific packages and upgrades. The wider technical picture from the paddock can be found in our Belgian GP pit-lane technical analysis.

Lewis Hamilton says repaired Ferrari was “different”

Although Ferrari repaired the damage in time, Lewis Hamilton admitted that the rebuilt SF-26 did not give him the same feeling or performance level he had experienced in FP3 before the crash.

Speaking to Sky UK, Lewis Hamilton said: “The car was different, but the guys did a fantastic job repairing the damage after FP3. This morning, the car was working really well and I felt really confident.”

Lewis Hamilton believes that, without the accident and the subsequent changes required to rebuild the car, he could have been much closer to the front. “I think with the FP3 car I could have been third or something like that. In qualifying, I was missing a couple of tenths. The car wasn’t identical to the one I had used in qualifying, but I did the best I could with what I had.”

At Spa-Francorchamps, where the revised Belgian GP energy rules have added another complication to qualifying, those two tenths were particularly costly. Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton’s fifth-place start keeps Ferrari within reach of a competitive result in a race expected to offer strategic opportunities.