Another dominant victory for Lewis Hamilton, his sixth win of the season, in Belgium. A poor start for Rosberg meant he dropped to 5th but he managed to make it to 2nd. Grosjean had his first podium since 2013 with a third place, after Vettel had a tyre failure on the penultimate lap. Hamilton’s victory means that he extends his championship lead to 28 points.
An issue with Hulkenberg’s car meant that he stopped on the grid at the start, so the cars had to take a second formation lap. At the start, Hamilton managed to stay ahead whilst Rosberg dropped down the order. He was able to get back into second and close the gap to Hamilton. When the virtual safety car was deployed on lap 21, for Ricciardo’s car stopping on track, the gap between the two Mercedes drivers was down to 2 seconds.
Nearing the end of the race, Grosjean was closing on Vettel for third place. He was within DRS but was struggling to make a pass on Vettel when Vettel’s tyre failed. Behind them, Kvyat was running in fifth, moving into fourth as he passed Vettel’s Ferrari. Williams had a poor race after an issue in the pit stop with Bottas. They managed to put on three soft tyres and one medium tyre, resulting in a drive through penalty. Bottas finished the race in 9th and Massa was 6th.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton P1, Nico Rosberg P2
A dominant race for Mercedes, with a gap of over 30 seconds between them and third-placed Grosjean. For Rosberg, the race was slightly disappointing due to the poor start he had which lost him many places. He was unable to close the gap to Hamilton near the end of the race and wasn’t able to complete a pass on his teammate. For Hamilton, it was a brilliant race and he has extended his lead in the championship to 28 points.
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen P7, Sebastian Vettel P12
A poor race for Ferrari meant they only got one driver in the points. Vettel had a good start after qualifying in 9th place. He was running in third on a one-stop strategy when his tyre failed and dropped to 12th place. Raikkonen started near the back and also struggled with wheelspin. He managed to make his way through the pack to finish in 7th.
Williams
Felipe Massa P6, Valtteri Bottas P9
A mistake during Bottas’ pit stop lost him a potential podium finish. The team put three soft tyres and one medium tyre on the car, which resulted in a drive through penalty. This mean he could only manage a ninth position. For Massa, the race was frustrating as he struggled for pace on the soft tyres early in the race. He managed to make up some of the places he lost early in the race to finish in 6th.
Red Bull
Daniil Kvyat P4, Daniel Ricciardo DNF
After a brilliant race in Hungary, the race this weekend was disappointing. Ricciardo’s race ended early after a technical issue with the car meant that it shutdown during the race. He was unable to continue the race so got a DNF. For Kvyat, the race was much better and he managed to maximise the performance of the car to finish in a strong 4th position, despite starting the race in 12th. After his final stop he managed to overtake Raikkonen, Massa and Perez to move into 5th. When Vettel had the tyre failure, Kvyat moved up into 4th.
Toro Rosso
Max Verstappen P8, Carlos Sainz DNF
An electrical problem on Sainz’s car meant that he had to come into the pits before the race had even started. The problem was fixed but when he eventually joined the race, he was two laps behind. He continued with the race but, with 11 laps to go, he retired the car to save mileage as they were so far behind. Starting in 18th, Verstappen managed to make some amazing overtakes to move up through the pack. After an aggressive drive he finished the race in 8th, after a risky overtake on Nasr on the outside at Blanchimont. He was unable to take Raikkonen for 7th but he was very pleased with his result from so far down the grid.
Force India
Sergio Perez P5, Nico Hulkenberg DNF
For Hulkenberg, the race was over before it had even started, he lost power on the formation lap and was unable to take the start. In contrast, an incredible start for Perez meant that he was fighting Hamilton for the lead on lap one. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the pace to keep this up for the whole race and he dropped down the order to finish 5th, still an impressive result for Force India.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean P3, Pastor Maldonado DNF
Maldonado was in a strong position when he lost power on his car and had to retire the car. For Grosjean, the race was incredible after starting down in ninth due to a gearbox penalty. He was struggling to overtake Vettel for third place in the closing stages of the race and was running out of time to get past. Then, with two laps remaining, Vettel’s tyre failed and Grosjean took third place, his first podium since 2013.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson P10, Felipe Nasr P11
A difficult race for Sauber mean that they only score one point. Ericsson had a strong start but debris on the floor of his car meant he lost downforce in the first part of the race. They struggled for pace throughout the race and were lucky to be able to pick up a point in the end.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso P13, Jenson Button P14
Another tricky race for McLaren. They had a total of 105 places of grid penalties going into qualifying for engine changes so both drivers started from the back. Helped by problems on other cars, they were able to move up the order slightly. Button also had an issue with his ERS so lost a lot of power throughout the race so was even less competitive in the race. Alonso also struggled for pace in his car so was unable to reach the top ten.
Manor
Roberto Merhi P15, Will Stevens P16
Both cars had a problem free race, so a positive result for the team. Merhi was able to get ahead of Stevens on the first lap and kept him behind in the race to finish in 15th.
See full race results here.