SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- Mercedes faces a battle to get Lewis Hamilton's car ready for qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix after the world champion crashed out of final practice.
Hamilton made an uncharacteristic error during the session, losing control of the car on the approach to the quick right-left kink at Turn 12. He couldn't catch the snap and his car went off the road and into the red tyre barrier.
The championship leader was unhurt, climbing out of the car immediately. He opened his radio channel to apologise to the team, who will now need to fix the car in the short space between FP3 and qualifying, which starts at 3pm local time.
Mercedes is confident the work can be completed in time.
The team said shortly afterwards: "We will be replacing both front corners (suspension and wheel assemblies), nose, barge boards and floor. Barring unexpected nasty surprises, we believe we can complete all of the work in time for the start of qualifying."
Session due to restart in two minutes
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 31, 2019
Busy couple of hours coming up for those Mercedes mechanics 👀👨🔧#F1 #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/L0FTQFb0Tq
Mercedes already looks to be second best to Ferrari this weekend, with the Italian team's engine advantage paying dividends around the long Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Ferrari is expected to claim pole position with its superior one-lap pace but after Friday practice Hamilton said he was confident Mercedes would be closer in the race.
Hamilton completed just four laps in FP3. Teammate Valttei Bottas finished third, 0.4s off Charles Leclerc's 1:44.206 at the top of the order. Mercedes looks to be comfortably quicker than Red Bull, which goes into qualifying knowing a big grid penalty hangs over the head of newly-promoted Alexander Albon. The Thai driver is set to start his debut Red Bull race from the back of the grid, leaving Max Verstappen to see if he can get his car on the second row -- Hamilton's crash might well have opened the door for him to do that.