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Lewis Hamilton says he is hopeful Ferrari can close out their rivals as the Belgian Grand Prix weekend goes ahead despite admitting the Italian team’s deficit in Friday practice was “greater than expected”.
Hamilton was close to the pace in first practice as he finished just over a tenth behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but was almost seven tenths behind 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 behind in third as he seeks a record eighth F1 title.
Hamilton, who has been in fine form with four podiums in his last five races, can at least take solace in finishing ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc in both sessions.
Hamilton said: “A pretty good day in general, positive, paced, relatively clean session.
“We made a few changes in P2. The gap seems a bit bigger today, at least in P2, than expected but hopefully we can try to close it tomorrow.
“But overall I generally feel better.”
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton reflects on day one of the Belgian Grand Prix
Although Antonelli’s pace was a bit of a surprise, the Italian’s nearest rival McLaren’s Lando Norris was unpredictable in second practice, while Verstappen was also ahead of Hamilton once again.
The Brit highlighted the middle sector as the part of the track where Ferrari will need to focus on finding more speed.
“The others are looking really strong,” Hamilton added. “Red Bull looked really strong. Mercedes took a lot of pace in the (second) session. McLaren looked good too.
“So, I don’t really know. Like I said, the car looks pretty decent but for some reason we’re lacking a bit in the middle sector.
“So, we’re just investigating why that is and seeing if we can pick it up tomorrow.”
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Despite going fast in FP2, Kimi Antonelli still says Mercedes have work to do before qualifying
Verstappen ‘not sure’ how much more speed the car has
Verstappen flew out of the blocks on Friday as he topped the first practice but had to settle for third in the second practice and was almost half a second off the pace.
Red Bull are no longer running their rotating ‘Macarena’ rear wing after two crashes for Verstappen in Austria and Silverstone but this appears to have had little effect on their pace.
Verstappen said “the balance was straight” and suggested Red Bull were close to maximizing their package at Spa-Francorchamps.
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Max Verstappen is red flagged after hitting the gravel during the second practice session at the Belgian GP.
“We just focus on ourselves. Honestly, I can’t be disappointed. It was a good day for us,” he said.
“I’m not sure how much more there is than the others but feeling wise it’s OK. In the second practice you’ll see more what the real gap is, but hopefully we can come out a bit towards qualifying.”
Norris: We might be closer than Silverstone
Norris was Antonelli’s nearest rival by 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 exceeded the season’s permitted limit.
Like Verstappen, Norris was pleased with his Friday but warned McLaren had recently strengthened in second practice, only to return in qualifying.
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Lando Norris reacts to news he will take a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding power unit component limits at the Belgian Grand Prix
“We didn’t change anything this weekend, so we have no reason not to expect something different,” said the reigning world champion.
“Red Bull don’t usually come on a Friday so we’ll go tomorrow and they’ll be as quick, if not faster, so let’s wait and see.
“We’ve probably turned it on with Mercedes and the rest haven’t so we’re still probably fourth fastest. But if we can get things right, we can be a bit closer than Silverstone.”
Sky Sports F1’s Belgian GP schedule
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Take a look back at some of the year’s most dramatic moments at the Belgian Grand Prix
Saturday 18 July
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 19 July
7.30am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
10.45am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Belgian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday
2pm: Belgian Grand Prix
4pm: Belgian GP reaction: checkered flag
*Also on Sky Sports main events
Formula 1’s summer run continues this weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime
