“You can always do a better job, but I think in the end to be so close to them [Mercedes] on a track with some long straights, we can be very pleased with that”, Verstappen remarked. Plus, it’s so hot that with those pressures we will get blisters and in China the tyres went a lot longer and it was cooler, so the tyres behaved more like normal tyres.
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Although Hamilton’s strategy options are likely to depend on how well he is able to manage the tyres, he has the clear cut option of starting the race from the pit lane or the back row of the grid.
“The whole weekend has been very smooth, even though I had some little issues this morning”.
Behind, Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari, only 0.166secs off pole, and only 0.017secs off a place on the front row.
Because there are only 22 cars in the field for the Belgian Grand Prix and excessive grid penalties don’t carry over into additional time penalties during the race as they used to, Hamilton’s team went ahead and swapped out as much as they needed to in order to bring that engine back up to its dominant status.
“So we’ve had to take on these three engines here, which is already better than the engine I had in the last race, so I’m confident of fighting with those three”.
Raikkonen was.215 of a second quicker than Ricciardo and.323 faster than Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, was frustrated in the roasting hot temperatures.
Felipe Massa was slowest in Q3 in his Williams after making a mistake at the start of his one and only run. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz took 15th with Wehrlein 16th.
Daniil Kvyat’s run of disappointing qualifying performances continued down in 19th place ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who is due a 10-place grid drop for using his sixth turbocharger of the season this weekend.
The sport’s complicated rulebook means Hamilton will serve a 55-place grid penalty following an engine change and a host of additional new components.
However, one further dilemma could still await team and driver – whether he takes any upgraded engine Mercedes introduce later in the season. “I can definitely push them more”. It was all about race preparation.
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As Formula One roars back into life following its summer break, Hamilton has largely been a spectator after his Mercedes team chose to take a penalty – one which has been lingering over the world champion following a series of engine failures in the opening phase of the season – here in Belgium. We’re all going to have massive degradation and looking after the tyres will be a struggle for everyone. The Briton knows Sunday is going to be far from easy, he is planning to just give it his best and see where he finishes. “Okay I’ve done lots of laps but not been out pushing for the auto to be the quickest”, he added as he munched on chocolate. Honda detected an anomaly with his power unit ahead of the session, but believed it was fixed before sending him out on track.
