Lewis Hamilton needed more laps in Charles Leclerc fight

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton needed more laps in Leclerc fight

'Usually 44's my lucky number!'

Matthew Scott

Sunday 1 September 2019 16:56

Lewis Hamilton lamented running out of laps in his hunt of Charles Leclerc, who just hung on to secure victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished 0.981 seconds behind Leclerc at Spa-Francorchamps as the Ferrari man hung on to claim his maiden race win in F1.

As Leclerc's tyres began to wear, memories of him missing out on wins in Bahrain and Austria after taking pole came flooding back, and Hamilton began chewing plenty of time out of the 21-year-old.

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But the Mercedes man never had a chance to attack Leclerc, as he might have done had the race ran over a few more than the 44 laps.

"I gave it absolutely everything. We had a great crowd today, I think more people than we've ever had here," Hamilton said.

"The Ferraris were just too fast on the straight and it was very very hard to keep up with them.

"I got as close as I could at the end, maybe a few more laps. 44 is usually my lucky number but maybe we needed a few more!

"Nonetheless, congratulations to Charles, he's had it coming all year and I'm really happy for him."

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