Upgrade “matches our expectations," claims Ferrari's team boss Fred Vasseur

On the back of a mixed opening day at the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was left to rue the Italian outfit's sprint qualifying results, but he praised the Scuderia's latest upgrade that has made its debut at Spa-Francorchamps.

Ferrari's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult opening day at the Belgian Grand Prix. The British driver looked to struggle for a consistent balance behind the wheel of his SF-25 in the sole one-hour practice session, but he still managed to grab seventh place.

However, he endured more difficult fortunes in the sprint qualifying session. The seven-time champion looked fairly competitive on his first flying lap, but he made a mistake at Stavelot which resulted in a time loss of around seven tenths.

His mistake meant that he needed a second flying lap which looked enough to make it out in Q1, but when he braked for the Bus Stop chicane, he lost the rear end of his Ferrari.

The replays showed that Hamilton's rear tyres instantly locked under braking, which ultimately resulted in the seven-time world champion being knocked out in 18th.

On the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc was able to make it into the last qualifying segment. The Monegasque looked fairly competitive both on the medium and the soft compound, but he was unable to fight for the pole position.

In the end, the 27-year-old positioned his Ferrari on the second row of the grid, although the 0.768s margin to pole left him with conflicting emotions.

Commenting on Ferrari's opening day at Spa-Francorchamps, team boss Fred Vasseur stated: "Charles did a solid job today. His lap was strong and we are close to Norris and Verstappen, which shows that we’ve made a step in the right direction and we can be pleased with where we are.

"Lewis was a bit unlucky on his first lap in which he was faster than Charles but then he came to turns 14-15 and nearly lost the car shortly after Antonelli spun there. On his second attempt he locked the rear and lost control, and in a Sprint Qualifying you pay the price."

The Italian team arrived at Spa with a heavily-revised rear suspension, and the changes have also led to modifications of the wishbone fairings and the associated lower and upper winglets.

Speaking of the upgrades, Vasseur stated: "Regarding the upgrades, we only completed a few laps but so far the data we are seeing matches our expectations, which is always positive.

"Of course, we would have preferred to have both cars starting further ahead, as that helps with data gathering and tyre management, especially in a Sprint weekend.

"Nobody was able to try any long runs so we will use tomorrow’s race to get a better picture. There’s still a long way to go this weekend and we’ll keep focusing on ourselves to maximise every opportunity."