Lewis Hamilton feels he is dragging a parachute behind him at Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton told Toto Wolff he feels like he is dragging a parachute behind him as the Mercedes boss labelled his team’s abject qualifying for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix as “unacceptable”.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will line up from the front of the grid after he was able to take advantage of Max Verstappen’s grid sanction for exceeding his number of allocated engine parts.

The world champion lines up 15th, but such is his jaw-dropping speed in Spa-Francorchamps – he finished almost seven tenths faster than anyone else – a ninth victory of his championship defence should not be ruled out.

Verstappen is one of seven drivers to be hit by grid penalties here, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – a distant second in the championship race – also thrown down the order for taking on his fourth power unit of the year.

Prior to qualifying, Hamilton could be forgiven for thinking that the plethora of grid punishments would provide him with his best shot of ending a losing streak which stretches back to the penultimate round of last season in Saudi Arabia – a run of 14 races and 266 days.

But Hamilton finished a staggering 1.8 seconds behind Verstappen on Saturday, with team-mate George Russell three tenths back. They will start fourth and fifth respectively.

“It is the worst qualifying session I’ve had in 10 years,” said Wolff.

With grid penalties applied...Here's how they line up on Sunday