Lewis Hamilton could miss Belgian Grand Prix after crashing out of practice

The one-hour session was immediately red-flagged following Hamilton's accident.

"I am in the wall, guys," the British driver said over the radio. "I am sorry."

Hamilton, 34, emerged from his cockpit unscathed, but his mechanics now face a race against time to get his damaged car ready for qualifying.

It is, however, a race they believe they can win.

"We will be replacing both front corners (suspension and wheel assemblies), nose, barge boards and floor on Lewis' car," a tweet from Mercedes read.

"Barring any unexpected surprises, we believe we can complete all of the work in time for the start of #BelgianGP qualifying."

The battle for pole position at Spa-Francorchamps takes place at 3pm local time.

Hamilton holds a commanding 62-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the championship, but he will be forced to start at the back of the grid for Sunday's race if he fails to post a time in qualifying.

In Hamilton's absence, Ferrari continued their domination of the weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, with Charles Leclerc fastest.

The impressive Monegasque finished nearly half-a-second clear of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, 0.497 seconds off the pace.