Lewis Hamilton apologises to Ferrari for 'costing them points' in the F1 Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton started from the rear of the grid at the Belgian GP and moved up to P7, which earned him the title of the driver of the day. Despite the Maranello-based squad being satisfied with his result, the Brit came over the radio and apologised to Ferrari for costing the team points due to his performance earlier in the weekend.

The 40-year-old had an impressive streak at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps of never taking the chequered flag outside the top-four at the Belgian GP. While this streak unfortunately came to an end, this was not all down to Ferrari's dismal pace earlier in the year.

Moreover, the new rear-suspension upgrade aided Charles Leclerc to qualify and finish the race in third. This helped the Monegasque claim his fifth podium of the season, a feat that Hamilton is yet to achieve with the SF-25.

But his dismal qualifying performance during the Sprint race and then qualifying made his weekend a lot tougher than he had anticipated. The seven-time champion was slated to start in the pit lane and was aided by rain, which helped him to start at the rear of the field without any gap to the usual starters.

Hamilton then utilised the pace of his Ferrari as well as a great job by the strategy team to get on to the slick tires at the right time and get inside the top-10. Though he was unable to leapfrog Alex Albon, a seventh-place result was still a good finish for the Brit.

Witnessing this, fans had voted him as the driver of the day. This sentiment followed into the Ferrari garage, as his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, also applauded Hamilton for the result over the post-race radio:

"Awesome job out there."

While Lewis Hamilton knew about the impressive drive that he had pulled out of the bag, he admitted that his early weekend woes had cost the team points, as he said over the radio:

"Sorry about this weekend guys, for losing you points. I’ll work harder to come back strong. Great job in the strategy and pit stop."

Hamilton's P7 finish assured that the Brit's points-scoring streak at every race weekend in the 2025 season so far has continued.

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Lewis Hamilton had to deal with fuel issues throughout the Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium - Source: Getty

With a rain-affected race taking place at the Spa-Francorchamps, fuel concerns were thrown out of the window for most drivers. However, Lewis Hamilton remained an exception.

With the Brit not being able to pass Alex Albon, his fuel woes were partly to blame as he was repeatedly told by the Ferrari pit wall to lift and coast into corners. Moreover, with the race taking place on a damp track with cold weather, brake or tire temperatures could not have been the major reason for such commands.

Hamilton was also frustrated at one point due to the constant instructions of lift and coast, as he came over the radio mid-race:

"I can’t attack because I’ve got no fuel, mate! Can I keep pushing or not?"

Lewis Hamilton's points tally has increased to 109 points after the Belgian GP, as he sits sixth in the championship table.

Edited by Luke Koshi