In the last practice session before the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton shared his views on the performance of the teams, highlighting Mercedes and McLaren as the favorites. On a day when Ferrari showed to be behind during the sessions, Hamilton spared no praise for the two rival teams.
In the first practice session, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes set the best time with 1:45.944, leaving Lando Norris of McLaren two-tenths behind and Max Verstappen of Red Bull half a second back. The British driver expressed his positive impression on the performance of Mercedes and McLaren, stating that with the long straights of the Belgian circuit, Mercedes’ strength would be clearly displayed.
Hamilton indicated: “Mercedes is always the team to beat, they have been all year. I think they will be very competitive.” He also mentioned that McLaren seems to have great speed in the fast corners, an area where Ferrari is apparently losing time according to his observations.
The seven-time world champion also made a self-criticism about his own team, pointing to possible limitations in the car setup that could affect performance in the second sector of the track. “The feeling is that some setups might be related to aerodynamic load,” he explained. “We are analyzing how to improve our performance without losing speed on the straights.”
The director of Ferrari, Fred Vasseur, tried to temper expectations derived from the practices, noting that Friday conditions are not always indicative of what will happen in qualifying, as each team can use different modes and fuel levels during the sessions.
With expectations running high, the Belgian GP promises to be an exciting spectacle where competition between the teams could bring surprises on the decisive day.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
