Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari Spin Shocks F1 Paddock as Martin Brundle Calls It ‘Highly Unusual’

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari Spin Shocks F1 Paddock as Martin Brundle Calls It ‘Highly Unusual’ originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Lewis Hamilton endured one of the most surprising moments of the 2025 F1 season after spinning his Ferrari during Sprint Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, marking Ferrari’s first-ever elimination in SQ1 since the Sprint format’s introduction. 

The incident occurred while braking into the final chicane, with Hamilton’s SF-25 suddenly snapping out of control. The seven-time world champion could only watch as his car rotated, eliminating him from the session in a shock early exit. 

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle described the moment as “highly unusual,” pointing to an unexpected issue at the rear of the car. “His rear axle broke under braking, highly unusual,” Brundle said. “I don’t think there’s anyone more surprised at that than Lewis Hamilton.”

Former F1 driver and Sky Sports expert Anthony Davidson also reviewed the onboard footage and placed no blame on Hamilton for the incident. 

“I hear a lot of locking in the rear axle on the car,” Davidson noted at the SkyPad. “That clunking is a backlash in the gearbox. I don’t blame the driver for that moment. Something is going on there in the downshift phase of that Ferrari. I give Lewis the benefit of the doubt for that one.”

Brundle further speculated the issue might have been linked to the engine. “It looks like a technical issue. Nobody will be more surprised than Lewis. It’s almost like the engine sort of stalled out, and every time he pulled another shift it just locked the rear axle,” Brundle added. 

For Hamilton, who joined Ferrari in 2025 aiming to fight for wins and titles, the result was a bitter setback. Ferrari’s early elimination in SQ1 added to the unwanted record books, especially as the team had never before been knocked out in the first segment of a Sprint Qualifying session. 

Here's the moment Lewis went spinning out of SQ1#F1Sprint#BelgianGPpic.twitter.com/CCoDXenZAu

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 25, 2025

With the race weekend still offering opportunities to recover, all eyes will be on Ferrari engineers to determine what went wrong and prevent a repeat of the rare and costly error.

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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.