World champion set to start from last at Sunday's Belgian GP
Monday 29 August 2016 10:39, UK
Lewis Hamilton says he is excited about the challenge of starting from the back of the Belgian GP grid.
The Mercedes driver has been demoted to the last row after the world champions spent five of their remaining 11 tokens in the process of introducing three upgraded power units for his car.
"It is going to be an interesting Sunday. I'm excited," said Hamilton.
Can Hamilton win from last on the grid?
It's possible Hamilton will opt to sit out qualifying given that, with his grid-drop penalties potentially amounting to as many as 75 places, he will be unable to change his starting position.
"That is for the team to decide, I honestly don't know what the programme is. I am just focusing on trying to get the car as well prepared as I can for the race and I'll take their lead on that."
Asked if he would like to send Rosberg a psychological message by setting the fastest time in qualifying, Hamilton responded: "I don't particularly care, I'm not doing anything for Nico, so let him do him and I'll do me."
Hamilton to start from the back row at Spa
Red Bull set the pace in Friday practice with Max Verstappen heading a one-two from team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. But Mercedes deliberately opted to keep their powder dry as Hamilton mainly ran on medium tyres to end up just 13th.
The mixed-up timesheet leaves Hamilton unsure about how high he might be able to climb through the field on Sunday and challenge for a podium - just as he did two years ago at the 2014 Hungarian GP when he finished third after starting from the pitlane.
"I heard that the Red Bulls were quick and the Force Indias were quick and the Ferraris were somewhere," added the world champion. "To get into the top 10 probably won't be the difficult thing, it will be getting up through there."
