Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes and McLaren will be strong at the Belgian Grand Prix after Friday practice at Spa-Francorchamps.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time of 1m45.944s in practice. He led McLaren's Lando Norris by two tenths of a second and Red Bull's Max Verstappen by half a second.
Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, finished 0.747s behind Antonelli. He said Mercedes has been the team to beat all year and expected them to perform well on the long straights at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hamilton also praised McLaren for its performance in high-speed and medium-speed corners. He noted that Ferrari was lacking pace in the middle sector of the track.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur cautioned against reading too much into Friday practice results. He said the team would assess the situation ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
