Lewis Hamilton ‘thwarted’ by unseen issue at the Belgian Grand Prix that has ‘plagued’ Ferrari this season

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Lewis Hamilton showed Ferrari fans on Sunday that he’s still more than capable of producing brilliant performances, even in his 18th season in Formula 1.

The Belgian Grand Prix was shaping up to be a nightmare weekend for Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton was handed a new update package heading into Spa that Ferrari hoped would make him and Charles Leclerc more competitive.

However, a change to Hamilton’s brakes saw him spin in Sprint qualifying, suffering from the same issue that saw Leclerc crash in practice in Canada when the same update was introduced to his car.

That made scoring points in the Sprint Race impossible, and a marginal track limits violation saw the seven-time world champion eliminated in Q1 for Sunday’s sodden race.

Damon Hill was left questioning Hamilton after his qualifying error, but he more than made up for it during the race.

He pulled off five overtakes before leapfrogging six more cars by pitting a lap earlier than all of his rivals.

Ferrari fans were delighted with Hamilton’s tactical masterclass, but his progress was limited once he caught Alex Albon.

He had to settle for a seventh-place finish, and Anthony Davidson has a theory as to why he couldn’t overtake the Williams driver.

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Lewis Hamilton ‘thwarted’ by Ferrari instruction to lift and coast at the Belgian Grand Prix

Davidson was analysing the race for Sky Sports F1 (27/7 4:32 pm) and spotted something in the latter stages of the race when watching Hamilton.

He explained: “Yeah, I’ve got a bit of info on Lewis’ race. About half the race or more, he’s been asked by his team to be lifting and coasting.

“Now, I know other drivers get asked the same thing, but I think it’s plagued him this entire race. I can’t work out exactly why he’s had to do so much.

“I think he even asked them at some point. Do I still need to be doing this? And they said, yes, we definitely still need to be lifting and coasting, it sounds like, to the end of the race.

“I think that’s thwarted him and his potential attack here on Alex Albon.”

Ted Kravitz added to Davidson’s analysis and said: “Isn’t that the usual? We’ve heard it from Leclerc, isn’t that the usual lift and coast to avoid wearing the plank that we’ve heard so many times this year?”

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Lewis Hamilton praises ‘positive step forward’ from Ferrari at the Belgian Grand Prix

Hamilton was cautious about saying Ferrari’s latest update package would be game-changing for the team at the start of the weekend.

However, speaking after Sunday’s race in his official press conference, the 40-year-old said: “Today’s race was a really positive step forward.

“The strategy and pit stop were executed perfectly, and the overnight changes we made to the set-up really allowed me to get the most out of the car.

“I felt much more comfortable behind the wheel, and I’m pleased with how everything came together.

“It’s been a challenging weekend overall, so to finish on a high note gives me real confidence heading into Budapest.

“I want to thank everyone back at Maranello for their continued hard work and for bringing this upgrade — I’m looking forward to building on this momentum in the second half of the season.”

Mark Webber was worried about Hamilton’s confidence in the car after watching his onboard footage during qualifying.

The changes that the team made on Sunday saw Hamilton look far more competitive, and he pulled off some brilliant overtaking moves in the process.

If he can nail his one-lap pace, there’s no reason why he can’t challenge for a podium finish at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix.