Lewis Hamilton could breathe a sigh of relief after the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, after managing to recover into the top seven places.
It was turning out to be a tricky weekend for Hamilton, who came to Spa Francorchamps after inheriting the win last year when his teammate George Russell was disqualified for being under the minimum weight limit.
After Hamilton suffered an unusual spin during Sprint qualifying, the seven-time world champion would make a recovery in the race on Sunday to charge from a pit lane start to seventh.
Ferrari switched Hamilton over to a wet weather setup overnight, which gave him the edge in the initial 12 laps they were out on the Intermediate tyres. Despite being told he needed to lift and coast to save fuel, Hamilton spent the remaining 33 laps in seventh ahead of Liam Lawson.
It has been a rollercoaster weekend for Hamilton, and he cut a dejected figure when speaking to media after both Sprint and normal qualifying. Discussing his weekend on the Cameron CC podcast, Peter Windsor thinks Hamilton should be livid after finding out what Fred Vasseur told the media.
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Vasseur was critical of Hamilton when he made a rare mistake on the brakes in Sprint qualifying, attributing the blame to him despite the team admitting they were trying something on his car that didn’t work for teammate Charles Leclerc.
Windsor thinks Hamilton should be livid with how Vasseur phrased the comments, seemingly suggesting it was all his fault.
“We now know there was some mysterious component he was running in the back of the car, i.e. rear suspension. I’m assuming it was something to do with the diff, but they keep saying rear suspension. And that was the cause of the problem,” said Windsor.
“But you have to question Fred Vasseur because he’s putting out a statement after Sprint qualifying, saying Lewis locked the rear brakes. Which, as we all know, means driver error.
“Why would he say that when Lewis is running a different component on the back of his car compared to Charles, which had already given problems when Charles had tried it? That to me is shocking. I find that absolutely incorrect that a team principal would say something like that. You don’t say that, you don’t say a driver locked the brakes, and if I was Lewis I’d be livid about that.”
Peter Windsor thinks Lewis Hamilton mistake at Raidillon was ‘inexcusable’
Hamilton’s difficult weekend reached its peak during qualifying, when the seven-time World Champion was knocked out of Q1 due to a track limits violation at Radillon.
After Piastri was pinged for something similar in practice, Windsor feels Hamilton and Ferrari dropped the ball.
“When Lewis discovered there was something wrong, he was more relaxed, but then we get to the mistake at Raidillon, which is inexcusable really. As early as SQ1, Oscar Piastri had been pinged by it, and that was an alarm to say is Oscar is doing it, we all need to be very wary. And then Lewis does it.”
Damon Hill thinks Hamilton needs more time at Ferrari to iron out his problems, after seeing him struggle over the weekend.