F1 News - Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes driver suffers heavy crash in final practice
https://ift.tt/2ZoWzdL Lewis Hamilton had a heavy crash in final practice at the Belgian Grand Prix, raising questions about his participation in qualifying. The world champion lost control entering the Fagnes chicane, trying to improve a lap time 0.35 seconds down on team-mate Valtteri Bottas. The car's front-left corner was damaged as Hamilton hit the barriers, head on. Charles Leclerc led Sebastian Vettel to a Ferrari one-two in the session, 0.497secs ahead of Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo's Renault was a surprise fourth fastest, just 0.271secs slower than Bottas and ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who was 1.106secs off the pace. Ricciardo is one of six drivers with a grid penalty this weekend as a result of using more than the permitted number of engine parts. Sergio Perez's upgraded Racing Point also impressed, with sixth fastest time. The concern for Mercedes and Hamilton will be two-fold: can they get the car repaired in time to run in qualifying at 14:00 BST; and whether the gearbox has been damaged, which would mean a five-place grid penalty. Hamilton lost control when he got a front wheel too far onto the outside kerb on entry to the 130mph chicane. He almost caught it as he fish-tailed through the asphalt run-off area but ran out of space to stop the impact. The rear of the car looked undamaged, with the front-left corner taking the brunt of the damage, but it remains to be seen whether the driveshaft took an impact that could affect the gearbox. Ferrari look strong favourites for pole position, which appears at this stage to be a straight fight between Leclerc and Vettel whether or not Hamilton's car is ready. It is a golden opportunity for Ferrari, who are yet to win a race this year, and failed to capitalise on their one-lap superiority at the German Grand Prix last month when both cars hit engine trouble in qualifying. But on Friday the red cars were not as competitive on race pace, struggling with excessive tyre wear, and the race might be a different matter. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 August 31, 2019 at 06:21AM Leave a Reply. |
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8/31/2019
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