Lewis Hamilton apologised to Ferrari in unheard F1 Belgian GP radio message

Lewis Hamilton apologised to Ferrari for costing the team points at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton endured a difficult sprint weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, suffering two eliminations in the first part of qualifying on consecutive days.

Lewis Hamilton could only manage 15th in the sprint race before a track limits violation saw him exit regular qualifying in a lowly 16th.

The 40-year-old Briton turned in an impressive fightback charge to recover to seventh, but with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc claiming a podium finish in third, Hamilton acknowledged he left points on the table.

“Sorry about this weekend guys, losing you points,” Hamilton said over team radio after taking the chequered flag in Belgium.

"I'll work harder to come back stronger at the next race. Great job on the strategy and pit stops.”

Despite being buoyed by his performance in the grand prix, Hamilton admitted it was ultimately a weekend to forget for him.

"I think everyone in the team worked so hard," Hamilton said. "We obviously had these upgrades. Everyone back in the factory worked so hard. And then when you come and put in a performance like I had in these past two days, it's tough because that's not what the team deserves.

"It wasn't a case of necessarily coming in and not being in the right mind through the weekend. There were a few factors that did affect, particularly on Friday. Saturday it was just me. But I recovered today. So I got some points.

“We outscored Mercedes on points, which is great. Charles did a great job. Clearly the car is improving because Charles was able to hold on to another podium. So I'm still going to work hard next week".

Ferrari impressed by Hamilton’s ‘aggressive’ recovery

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was quick to praise Hamilton’s decisive fightback through the field, though he acknowledged the team need to do a better job across the weekend.

“The mood is good,” Vasseur said. “For sure it's not the result we were expecting with Lewis in qualifying. But it's part of the life of racing team that we reacted collectively very well.

“Lewis did a great job. He was quite aggressive at the beginning in the extreme conditions.He was able to fight with Albon until the end with the downforce of Budapest. It was a good recovery for him also to be efficient like this.

“Now for sure we have to do a better job from the beginning, if you want to score podium or wins, you can't let one session away. We'll have to do a step next week, but we are all pushing in the same direction.”

Hamilton was the first driver to switch onto slick tyres in the wet-dry race and that proved crucial in aiding his charge.

“I think with Lewis it was the right call, because it’s probably in the first couple of laps that you can overtake, and the downforce helped him to come back,” Vasseur explained.

“Then perhaps we didn’t have the general pace to overtake Russell or Albon, and we were stuck behind them with the wing, but at least we came back P7.

“When you make the choice on Saturday at 2pm you have no clue about how many laps you will do on Sunday with the inters. For sure it’s a kind of gamble, and I think it was the right call.”