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Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his Ferrari was “not identical” to the car he had prepared for qualifying after his FP3 crash at the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton qualified sixth at Spa-Francorchamps, but believes he could have challenged for third place had Ferrari not needed to repair the car after his accident. Lando Norris finished Q3 in P3, just 0.094 seconds ahead of Hamilton, although Norris will drop 10 places on the grid because of a penalty for a new battery.
Ferrari’s Hamilton set a personal-best time of 1:44.895 in Q3, placing him behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who recorded 1:44.893. With Norris’s penalty applied, the two Ferrari drivers will move up one position and start from fourth and fifth respectively.
The result came after a difficult turnaround for Ferrari. As covered in our report on Hamilton’s FP3 crash at Spa, the seven-time champion ended final practice in the barriers at Turn 13, damaging the right-rear suspension and bringing his session to an early finish.
Hamilton said the car’s behaviour changed after the repairs, even though Ferrari completed the work in time for qualifying.
“The car felt different after the repair,” Hamilton said, according to quotes carried by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com. “The guys on the team did a great job fixing the damage after FP3.”
He added that the car had felt “fantastic” during the practice session and had given him confidence. While he did not believe it had the pace to fight for pole position, Hamilton felt third place or something close to it was possible with the original FP3 specification.
“So, I was a couple of tenths short in qualifying. The car was not identical to the one I had prepared for qualifying, but I did my best with what I had,” he said.
Ferrari replaced the damaged suspension, floor and rear wing, while also changing the gearbox as a precaution. Hamilton’s crash came after he ran marginally off the racing line through the middle of the Fagnes chicane and reached the dirty part of the track. He could not regain control before entering the gravel and hitting the barrier.
Hamilton will now hope the loss of confidence does not carry into Sunday’s race as he pursues his 12th podium at Spa.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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Wishing Ferrari good luck