No accusation Ferrari power unit ‘tricks’ are illegal – Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari now definitively have a strong vehicle for all circuits after claiming their first win at the Belgian GP this decade in emphatic style.

After securing pole position in wet conditions on Saturday, Hamilton had lost the lead by Turn 5 on Sunday as Vettel breezed past him on the Kemmel Straight.

Asked later to clarify his comments, Hamilton was keen to distance himself from sounding suspicious, or suggesting Ferrari has infringed the rules in any way.

“I’m not saying there is anything illegal”.

“I really enjoyed the race”, Vettel said afterwards. “We all have trick things on our cars”.

“[Ricciardo] hit me on the rear and I had a lot of damage”, said Raikkonen after his race was run. “I had a good restart, a very good exit off the first corner and I kept it clean”.

While improved aerodynamics have helped Ferrari’s quest to topple Mercedes on faster, flowing circuit, consistent engine gains have proved critical with the Scuderia’s power unit now considered the most powerful in Formula 1.

Vettel’s 52nd career win closes the gap to Hamilton to 17 points heading into next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza – Ferrari’s home.

Verstappen, meanwhile, displayed his usual slick overtaking by getting past Ocon and making light work of catching Perez to move into third _ delighting the orange-clad Dutch fans congregated around the 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) Spa track nestled in the Ardennes forest. Hamilton’s final chance came during the round of pit stops when he sought to undercut the Ferrari.

“I think we had a wobble, I guess everybody had in these conditions”, he said. “We knew they were quicker on the straights”.

“But then the rain came and none of us have been driving this weekend in the rain, so I can’t even express to you how hard it was”. The mechanics tried to get me out there before we went a lap down but we just missed that but they did all they could. “They deploy (more) power somehow than us. I’m not really sure how”. That’s what we’re working for.

“We had our deficits a year ago”, he conceded. “So we were trying but we couldn’t obviously keep racing and hoping till the end, so we packed it up”. “I went off twice but I’m so glad I managed to keep it together for that last lap”. “They’re doing a good job at the moment and Mercedes have got to try and counter that, haven’t they?” He won’t get any attention for it, finishing outside the podium spots, but this was a useful fourth-place finish, particularly in terms of the constructors’ championship, bearing in mind that Ferrari only had one vehicle coast past the chequered flag.

“In the end we should’ve managed better as a team, but as I said, in these conditions it could’ve been a red flag in the last lap and then it doesn’t matter, I always trying to open a gap in the last sector last corner, and slow down to charge the vehicle – but obviously it wasn’t enough at the end”.

“Lewis was pretty powerless on lap one. “(Ferrari) were deserved winners today.