More disappointment for Lewis Hamilton in Belgium as he qualifies 16th

By Philip Duncan, PA F1 Correspondent, Francorchamps

Lewis Hamilton’s horror weekend took another nightmare twist when he qualified 16th for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who started 18th and finished 15th in the sprint race earlier at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday, was eliminated in Q1 for Sunday’s main event after his best lap was chalked off by the stewards.

Hamilton thought he had done enough to haul his Ferrari into the next phase of qualifying when he posted the seventh best time.

But moments later, Hamilton’s lap was deleted after he was adjudged to have ran all four wheels of his Ferrari off the circuit at Raidillon.

That dropped Hamilton to 16th where he is now due to start the 13th round of the campaign on Sunday.

“Is everything okay?” Hamilton asked on the radio. “Track limits,” replied Hamilton’s race engineer, Ricardo Adami.

“Am I out?” Hamilton replied. “Lap time is deleted, P16.”

There was no response from the 40-year-old who is left to reflect on another sobering result of his difficult start to life at Ferrari.

Hamilton, who spun in qualifying for the sprint, enters Sunday’s race without a podium for Ferrari – the deepest he has gone into a season in his career without a top-three finish.