Gutted Lewis Hamilton says cause of spin was “the first time in my career”

Lewis Hamilton says he is “massively frustrated” after a spin led to him suffering a shock early qualifying exit for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race.

The seven-time world champion was knocked out in the first session and will start Saturday's shorter race down in 18th after a mistake on his first lap and a spin at the final corner ruined his qualifying.

It is not clear at this stage whether Hamilton’s spin at the Bus Stop chicane was caused by driver error, or a mechanical problem with his car.

The rear of his Ferrari, which features an upgraded rear suspension this weekend in Belgium, appeared to dramatically lock, causing Hamilton to pirouette into the run-off area.

Lewis Hamilton was visibly downbeat when he spoke to Sky Sports F1 after sprint qualifying.

Asked what happened with his incident, Hamilton bluntly responded: “I span.”

He confirmed it was caused by a rear lock.

"First time, I think, in my career," Hamilton admitted.

He added: “Not great, not great. There isn’t really a lot to say.”

When asked if the SF-25 was more drivable, Hamilton simply shook his head before saying: “Tomorrow is a new day.

“Obviously I am massively frustrated. A lot of work has gone in, to be there. It’s not great.”

Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, ended up fourth, 0.768s off the pace of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who claimed a dominant pole position.

Impact of Ferrari’s upgrade unclear

Both Ferrari drivers had downplayed the impact of the team’s much-hyped new rear suspension design ahead of the weekend.

Hamilton and Leclerc both got a brief chance to sample Ferrari’s upgrade during a filming day at Mugello last week.

Speaking on Thursday’s media day, Hamilton said the SF-25 felt “the same as before”.

“Firstly we’ll get to test the suspension tomorrow and I’m sure there’s going to be learnings from it,” he continued.

“We’ll kind of figure out how to finetune it and to try to extract performance from it. On the simulator there’s no difference, but I’m sure across different circuits perhaps there’ll be benefits. I think for me the positive thing is arriving at the filming day where you see that new bits are coming, you see that we are getting development.

“In general we had an upgraded floor in Bahrain, then it was quite some time before we got another upgrade, I think it was Austria, so pace-wise it wasn’t necessarily what I would have thought we would have.

“If you look at some of the other teams, they bring small pieces every weekend. Red Bull often do and Mercedes do, for example, whereas these are more like big chunks along the way.

“I think I was just really happy to see that there clearly is a big pushback at the factory, there are a lot of changes, and then to see the results with those changes takes time, so I was just really grateful to see we’ve got new parts. We’ll try and put them to use this weekend.”

Leclerc also refused to get carried away with suggestions the update could turn around Ferrari’s underwhelming 2025 campaign.

“Is it going to be the change? I would be careful of saying that,” the Monegasque said. “I think it’s a change, and it’s a change that is going in the right direction.

“I don’t think there’s anything in the car that today, even if we put the best of the best parts [on], will give us three or four tenths which is what we are lacking compared to McLaren, so that’s not the only thing that will make us go back to winning.

“But I’m confident to say that that is going to be one of the parts that hopefully will bring us closer to McLaren because it’s going in the right direction, of that I’m sure. On that I’m confident; I don’t think it’s going to be what is going to turn the situation around completely from one race to the other.”