Sir Lewis Hamilton says he is not pleased with his performance at Saturday’s Belgian Grand Prix sprint race where he was classified seventh.
The seven-time world champion initially finished fourth but was demoted to seventh after receiving a five-second time penalty for causing a collision Red Bull’s Sergio Perez on the wet Spa-Francorchamps track.
Hamilton would have been awarded five points for his fourth place finish in the sprint but took home just two points for seventh place. The Mercedes driver stated where he finished matter very little since he did not win, the victory going to regular face Max Verstappen.
“In a race like today honestly I don’t really care too much,” Hamilton told Autosport.
“You don’t get many points. Of course it would have been nice to finish fourth, but I don’t really care to finish fourth, I want to win! So it’s fourth, seventh, it doesn’t really make a difference.”
Hamilton battled with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the latter part of the sprint race for the final podium place but his Mercedes could do nothing as he claims he had damage to the floor of his car from the collision with Perez.
“With the collision I had floor damage, so I lost a lot of downforce on the floor,” he explained.
“And unfortunately then the rear end was just tailing, the tyres were going off, and I couldn’t get any closer.”
Lewis crosses the line P4 but will be classified P7 after his penalty.
A strong drive from George sees him pick up the final point in P8 after a crazy Sprint race at Spa! ???? pic.twitter.com/uB6GXSIcnT
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 29, 2023
Hamilton said his contact with Perez was not intentional but rather a racing incident which led to the Mexican retiring from the race with a damaged car.
“I mean my only thought is that it’s tricky conditions out there, we’re all trying our best, and of course it wasn’t intentional,” the 38-year-old asserted.
“I think I went for a gap, he was slow going through Turn 14, I went on the inside, I was more than half a car length up the inside, and if you’re not going for a gap then you’re no longer racing as Ayrton always said. That’s what I did.
“When I watched it back it feels like a racing incident to me. I just feel like we’re in a racing period, we don’t want to be deterred from racing.”
Hamilton will start Sunday’s main race in third place after polesitter Verstappen was handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change in Friday’s qualifying session. The Dutch driver and reining Belgian Grand Prix champion will ultimately start the race in sixth place.
