Lewis Hamilton had little option than to concede Charles Leclerc’s superior pace at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday, following the qualifying session for the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The Mercedes driver found himself 0.763s off the Monegasque’s stunning pole time, and was also forced off the front row by a late flier from Leclerc’s Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n
It leaves Hamilton starting tomorrow’s race from third place on the grid alongside his Silver Arrows team mate Valtteri Bottas.<\/p>\n
“Congratulations to Charles, he’s been so quick all weekend,” Hamilton acknowledged after the end of qualifying.<\/p>\n
“Ferrari have done a great job today. Charles did an exceptional job. I hope we can bring the fight to them tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Leclerc was able to use clear air and Ferrari’s straight-line speed to gain an advantage over his rivals. Hamilton and the rest of the field tripped up jockeying for position, trying to pick up a slipstream effect down Spa’s superfast, high-speed straights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a bit slow,” said Hamilton of his Q3 warm-up lap, which saw him almost run into the back of Bottas at one point which forced him to slow to a crawl.<\/p>\n
“Obviously he was trying to keep the tow of the car in front, so I was trying to hold behind him and everyone was behind me. It was really tricky.”<\/p>\n
Hamilton added he was uncertain whether the expected overnight drop in ambient temperatures would be in Mercedes’ favour in tomorrow’s race, as has proved the case in the past.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know, I’d have to ask my engineers. Either way I’m going to give it everything, hopefully give these guys a good race.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“In the long run I’m hoping we can at least give them a bit of a challenge tomorrow.<\/p>\n
“I think a bit of their straight speed – which is where generally all the speed is – it’s usually not there so much in the race.<\/p>\n