BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton suffers further blow as Belgian GP grid changes hours before F1 race

Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from the pit lane. It comes after a wretched qualifying session at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps which ended far earlier than Hamilton would have liked when he suffered a galling exit in the first round.

Hamilton thought he had gone quick enough in Q1 to secure safe passage through to the next round of qualifying on Saturday. However, footage showed that he went off the track momentarily during his fastest flying lap and so the stewards intervened to delete his time.

That dropped the seven-time Formula 1 champion down to 16th and meant he was one of the bottom five drivers eliminated from qualifying at the first hurdle. It was the same fate he had suffered a day earlier when a spin at the final chicane caused him to drop out of qualifying for the sprint race in Belgium.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton kicked out of Belgian Grand Prix qualifying as F1 stewards intervene

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But instead of starting Sunday's main event 16th, Hamilton will instead begin the race from the pit lane. That is the automatic punishment triggered by his Ferrari team deciding to arm their driver with a fresh engine in the hope that some extra horsepower can give him a better chance of moving back up into the points.

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