1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill views Ferrari\u2019s performance at the Belgian Grand Prix as a positive sign following the introduction of their latest upgrades. Ferrari debuted a new rear suspension update for the race at Spa-Francorchamps, which helped Charles Leclerc secure his fifth podium by finishing ahead of Max Verstappen in third place.<\/p>\n
Leclerc\u2019s strong finish came as a surprise, especially after he managed to overcome delays affecting the leading trio during the sprint race. On BBC\u2019s Checkered Flag Podcast, Hill remarked that the Ferrari upgrade had a noticeable impact. \u201cI think it\u2019s encouraging,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThey made some modifications, particularly on the rear suspension, which seemed to have improved the car. Ferrari has clearly made some progress. That third place in qualifying is likely a boost for the team, but the car remains a challenging one to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also praised Leclerc\u2019s performance, saying, \u201cHe did an excellent job with Ferrari and managed to get ahead of Max Verstappen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it was a tougher weekend for Lewis Hamilton, who struggled on the opposite side of the Ferrari garage. The seven-time world champion didn\u2019t make it past Q1 in either qualifying session. However, by switching to intermediate tires at the right moment, Hamilton finished seventh in the sprint race. Williams driver Alex Albon managed to surpass Hamilton\u2019s seventh-place advance, but Hamilton made an impressive recovery starting from the pit lane.<\/p>\n
Hill added, \u201cIf Lewis had been able to get into his rhythm, he could have done something with that car. It was disappointing not to see him progress beyond Q1, so we never really got to see his full pace. Still, Charles going ahead of Red Bull\u2014especially with Max Verstappen driving\u2014was significant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fan Take: This update could mark the start of a tougher challenge to Red Bull\u2019s dominance, injecting more excitement into the championship battle. For fans, seeing Ferrari close the gap with meaningful upgrades means more unpredictable and thrilling races ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill views Ferrari\u2019s performance at the Belgian Grand Prix as a positive sign following the introduction of their latest upgrades. Ferrari debuted a new rear suspension update for the race at Spa-Francorchamps, which helped Charles Leclerc secure his fifth podium by finishing ahead of Max Verstappen in third place. Leclerc\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[563,4115,4910,2447,3009,19,36,3520,2686,944,480,117,827],"class_list":{"0":"post-17016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-belgian","9":"tag-boost","10":"tag-damon","11":"tag-encouraging","12":"tag-ferraris","13":"tag-formula","14":"tag-grand","15":"tag-hill","16":"tag-offers","17":"tag-performance","18":"tag-prix","19":"tag-racing","20":"tag-upgrade"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}