Hamilton crashes into the barriers at Spa

Date published: August 31 2019

Lewis Hamilton

World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton suffered a big setback during final practice after he crashed into the barriers at Fagnes corner.

Here is how qualifying day unfolded at Spa, starting with FP3…

Valtteri Bottas was particularly eager to get going on Saturday morning. Must have been a triple espresso shot he had…

Conditions were pretty much spot on as drivers returned to the track for final practice.

Sergio Perez made his way out on track for the first time since the announcement of a brand spanking new three-year deal with SportPesa Racing Point.

The drivers were quietly going about their business during FP3, then this happened…

Hamilton emerged unscathed from the big shunt, but has left his team with a lot of repair work to do ahead of qualifying.

And we mean a lot…

As Mercedes put it, even the best make mistakes…

The accident left just 13 minutes left on the FP3 session clock, which passed with Ferrari once again occupying the top two spots.

Hamilton was good to go for qualifying, just about, and also escaped the dreaded pit-lane start.

Kubica brought out the red flags early in Q1 as another Mercedes power unit went bang, an internal combustion engine failure making it the exact same fate that befell Perez on Friday.

Oh Ferrari, it seemed Leclerc was in trouble, but we avoided the usual story after he made it out onto the circuit and went 1.5s faster than Bottas.

Power issues have plagued Max all weekend and they were determined not to go away.

Antonio Giovinazzi’s engine was next to quit, and with the red flags coming out less than a minute before the end of Q1, the bottom five was set.

Norris dropped out in Q2 to complete a difficult day for McLaren, while Albon and Stroll didn’t go for a final lap knowing they would start from the back anyway.

Ferrari secured their first front-row lockout since Bahrain, but Leclerc would take pole seven tenths clear of his team-mate!

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Lewis Hamilton Mercedes