Lewis Hamilton suffers further blow as Belgian GP grid changes hours before F1 race

Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from the pit lane. It comes after a wretched qualifying session at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps which ended far earlier than Hamilton would have liked when he suffered a galling exit in the first round.

Hamilton thought he had gone quick enough in Q1 to secure safe passage through to the next round of qualifying on Saturday. However, footage showed that he went off the track momentarily during his fastest flying lap and so the stewards intervened to delete his time.

That dropped the seven-time Formula 1 champion down to 16th and meant he was one of the bottom five drivers eliminated from qualifying at the first hurdle. It was the same fate he had suffered a day earlier when a spin at the final chicane caused him to drop out of qualifying for the sprint race in Belgium.

But instead of starting Sunday's main event 16th, Hamilton will instead begin the race from the pit lane. That is the automatic punishment triggered by his Ferrari team deciding to arm their driver with a fresh engine in the hope that some extra horsepower can give him a better chance of moving back up into the points.

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Ferrari confirmed the change of plan as it previewed the race on social media, with a graphic showing that Charles Leclerc will start in third place and that Hamilton is set to begin his race away from the grid. "Lewis Hamilton will start from the pit lane with a new power unit," the team said.

Hamilton is not the only big name starting the Belgium race from that position. After their own respective qualifying disasters, Mercedes rookie teenager Kimi Antonelli and two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso are also set for pit lane starts after they too decided to take new engine components.

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That is the automatic punishment that is triggered whenever teams make significant changes to a car under parc ferme conditions, which begin the moment a car leaves the garage at the start of qualifying. "Car numbers 44 [Hamilton], 12 [Antonelli] and 14 [Alonso] should now be required to start the race from the pit lane," the race stewards confirmed.

Hamilton cut a glum figure after qualifying as he faced the media and reacted to what had been a disappointing result. And the Brit shouldered the blame himself as he apologised to his Ferrari colleagues for letting them down.

He said: "I was the same as I was for the rest of the weekend. We made some changes, the car didn't feel terrible but it was tough for us because we had to put a second set of tyres on just to get through Q1, so not great.

"But from my side, another mistake so I've really got to look internally and apologise to the team, because it's unacceptable to be out in both Q1s. It's a very, very poor performance for myself."