Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in the first qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix after stewards deleted his fastest lap for exceeding track limits at Eau Rouge and Raidillon. The seven-time world champion had appeared to secure a place in Q2 with a time that put him seventh, but officials ruled that all four wheels had crossed the white line.
Onboard cameras from his Ferrari were inconclusive, but a static off-board camera confirmed the infringement. Hamilton initially seemed unaware of the penalty, asking his race engineer, 'Is everything okay?' before being told his lap time was deleted. He finished 16th, marking the first time a Ferrari has failed to progress from Q1 in a full Grand Prix qualifying since Carlos Sainz in 2023.
This was the second qualifying setback of the weekend for Hamilton, who also failed to advance in Sprint qualifying after spinning at the final corner. He attributed that error to a new component on his car, which teammate Charles Leclerc had previously used. 'We've got a new component on the car that Charles had in Montreal,' Hamilton explained. 'I had the same experience in my first run with it yesterday.'
