After Ferrari took a brace of one-twos during Friday's free practice sessions for the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas admitted to being blown away by the pace of their rivals in red.

“We always knew coming here that Ferrari would be strong, also Red Bull,” said Bottas after an FP2 session in which he finished third, but more than eight-tenths off leader Charles Leclerc. “But Ferrari have been really strong today, really killing us on the straight lines,” he said.

Hamilton called it a “nightmare” first practice session after finishing sixth, and while Mercedes made improvements to his car, there was little they could do to get on terms with the Ferraris on the straights.

“We made some changes, because the set-up was quite far off, into FP2, and it was feeling a lot better, but we still have work to do," he said. "I don’t know about the gaps, obviously the Ferraris look quite quick, they’re like almost a second quicker than us just in a straight line down to Turn 5 so that’s quite impressive.

“They have been strong on the straights all year long, so I had a feeling this weekend might work really well for them. We will have to find a way to apply the pressure this weekend, if we don't have it on pure pace.”