Lewis Hamilton radio message reveals critical Belgian GP fuel situation

Lewis Hamilton tried to attack Alex Albon for P6 at the Belgian Grand Prix, but told his race engineer he’s “got no fuel”, and later revealed his Ferrari SF-25 was “underfuelled” for the higher downforce wing.

After a wretched qualifying session in which his fastest lap time was deleted for a track limit violation with Hamilton down in 16th place, Ferrari made the call to break parc ferme conditions to change the car’s setup.

Lewis Hamilton: I can’t attack because I’ve got no fuel

As heavy rain fell on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Ferrari not only switched Hamilton to a higher downforce trim, but they also introduced a new hybrid power unit.

It proved to be the right call, as Hamilton raced from 17th at the start to seventh at the chequered flag.

The delayed race began behind the Safety Car, which led for four laps before the drivers were cleared to race. Hamilton immediately made up positions in the wet, passing five drivers.

A gamble as the first driver to swap to slick tyres on lap 12 yielded further gains with the Briton up to seventh as the pit stops played out.

And then came the ominous “lift and coast” from his race engineer Riccardo Adami.

Asked to lift and coast even before the halfway point of the 44-lap Grand Prix, Hamilton struggled to get close enough to Alex Albon to challenge the Williams driver for sixth place.

Hamilton: “It’s hard to get close on the straight!”

Adami: “We still need the lift and coast.”

Hamilton: “Yeah, I know.”

Adami: “We need it still, and it’s still a long way.”

Hamilton: “I can’t attack because I’ve got no fuel, mate! Can I keep pushing or not?”

Adami: “Stand by.”

Adami: “Let’s stay where we are.”

Hamilton finished the Grand Prix behind Albon in seventh place where he was seven-tenths down on the Williams driver.

More on Lewis Hamilton’s Belgian Grand Prix

👉 How Lewis Hamilton carved through the field in incredible Belgian GP fightback

👉 Lewis Hamilton ‘engineering the car’ as Ferrari boss makes Belgian GP quip

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was asked about the lift and coast messages to his driver and whether it related to fuel or the floor.

Chuckling, he replied to the media, including PlanetF1.com: “No, no, no. You are clever enough to see when we did the lift and cost and to understand the reason.”

Hamilton, though, didn’t avoid the topic when he was asked by Sky F1 if he could’ve attacked Albon were it not for having to lift and coast and revealed his car didn’t have enough fuel for the wing he was running.

“I think maybe right at the end I would’ve been able to attack him, but we underfuelled,” he said. “Basically we underfuelled for the wing we had.”

The seven-time World Champion still enjoyed his race, one of his best performances since joining Ferrari at the beginning of the year.

“I always love races like that, where you get challenged and having to make your way through the field,” he said.

“That’s really kind of like how my life started in racing at Rye House, because we had a not such a great go-kart, and we always started at the back. So very reminiscent of that sort of thing.

“Great work by the team. Ultimately, disappointed to have not had such a great weekend, definitely one to forget, but at least I still got some points and we outscored Mercedes collectively.

“But I’ve got to back and… can’t always get it right. There are lots of factors that contributed to Friday, Saturday, which, again, some factors but ultimately me, and then obviously recovered a little bit today.

“Big thanks to the team, I’ll try and come stronger next week. I think I know the car a lot better now and the changes that we’ve made.”

Ferrari extended their advantage over Mercedes in the fight to finish runner-up to runaway championship leaders McLaren to 28 points.

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