Hamilton hopeful of closing 'bigger than anticipated' Ferrari Spa deficit

Lewis Hamilton says he is hopeful Ferrari can close on their rivals as the Belgian Grand Prix weekend progresses despite admitting the Italian team's deficit in Friday practice was "bigger than anticipated".

Hamilton was close to the pace in first practice as he finished little more than a tenth behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, but was a concerning seven tenths down on Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli when the world championship leader topped the second session.

Antonelli leads his Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 25 points at the top of the standings, with Hamilton seven points further back in third as he seeks a record eighth F1 title.

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Hamilton, who has been in a fine run of form with four podiums in his last five races, could at least take solace from finishing ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc in both sessions.

Hamilton said: "Pretty good day in general, positive, made steps forward, relatively clean sessions.

"We made a couple of changes into P2. The gap seems a bit bigger today, at least in P2, than anticipated but hopefully we can try to close that tomorrow.

"But overall I generally feel good."

While Antonelli's pace came as little surprise, the fact that the Italian's nearest challenger in second practice was McLaren's Lando Norris was unexpected, while Verstappen was also once more ahead of Hamilton.

The Brit highlighted the middle sector as the part of the track in which Ferrari needed to focus on finding more speed.

"The others look really strong," Hamilton added. "Red Bull look really strong. Mercedes picked up a lot of pace in the (second) session. McLaren were looking good as well.

"So, I really don't know. As I said, the car feels pretty decent but we're lacking a little bit in the in the middle sector for some reason.

"So, we're just looking into why that is and to see if we can pick that up tomorrow."

Verstappen 'not sure' how much more pace is in car

Verstappen came flying out of the blocks on Friday as he topped first practice but had to settle for third in second practice and was nearly half a second off the pace.

Red Bull are no longer running their rotating 'macarena' rear wing after two accidents for Verstappen in Austria and Silverstone but it seems to have made little impact on their pace.

Verstappen says the "balance was there straight away" and suggested Red Bull are close to maximising their package at Spa-Francorchamps.

"We just focus on ourselves. Honestly, I cannot be disappointed. It's been a good day for us," he said.

"I'm not sure how much more there is in there compared to the others but feeling wise it's been alright. Second practice you see more what the real gap is, but hopefully we can eek out of that a bit towards qualifying."

Norris: We can be closer compared to Silverstone

Norris was Antonelli's closest challenger at 0.190s off the pace but has a 10-grid place penalty for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix due to a new control electronics that exceeds the season's permitted limit.

Similarly to Verstappen, Norris was satisfied with his Friday but warned McLaren have been strong in second practice recently, only to fall back come qualifying.

"We haven't changed anything this weekend, so there's no reason for us to not expect anything different," said the reigning world champion.

"Red Bull normally don't turn up on a Friday so we will get to tomorrow and they will be just as quick, if not quicker, so let's wait and see.

"We probably turned it up with Mercedes and the rest of them didn't so we are still probably fourth fastest. But if we can get things right, then we might be a bit closer than we were at Silverstone."

Sky Sports F1's Belgian GP schedule

Saturday July 18
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Belgian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.15pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Belgian GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: BELGIAN GP QUALIFYING*

Sunday July 19
7.30am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
10.45am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Belgian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday
2pm: THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Belgian GP reaction: Chequered Flag

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1's summer run continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at legendary Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime