Hamilton endured his own personal qualifying struggles in Spa, too. The legendary Brit spun after a spot of rear brake locking at the final chicane on Friday, dumping him out in SQ1, and was then ousted from Q1 on Saturday after his fastest lap time was deleted for a track limit violation.

Nico Rosberg, the former Mercedes driver and 2016 F1 World Champion, has urged Toto Wolff to offer Andrea Kimi Antonelli a new contract right away. But he believes the team should retain the option to make a change to its driver lineup for F1 2026 if the rookie “really goes bad” towards the end of this season.

Lewis Hamilton was pictured consoling an upset Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes motorhome after a nightmare Belgian Grand Prix weekend for the F1 rookie. Both Hamilton and Antonelli made costly mistakes at Spa, with each driver unable to get out of Q1 in qualifying for the sprint and the main race.

Rosberg, who worked under Wolff at Mercedes before retiring from F1, offered the Austrian some advice to drag Antonelli out of his slump. “What I would do in Toto’s case would be signing a contract with him,” the 2016 world champion said.

Kimi Antonelli believes his driving has become forced and unnatural recently, as he strives to come out of a blip in self-confidence.

Nico Rosberg has urged Toto Wolff to hand Kimi Antonelli a new Mercedes F1 contract to relieve the “horrible” pressure he’s facing after another disappointing qualifying display at the Belgian Grand Prix. Antonelli has endured a difficult run of form, as he was knocked out in Q1 at Spa-Francorchamps.

After Red Bull moved towards a wet weather set-up for the race, Max Verstappen was frustrated with F1 race control delaying the start of the Belgian GP