Lewis Hamilton dominated the Belgian Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg making it yet another Mercedes one-two. Romain Grosjean finished a strong third place for Lotus.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India ground to a halt on the grid, leading to a second aborted start in as many races and causing the tension over the new start system to grow.
The lights did go out the second time around, with Hamilton making a good start. Teammate Rosberg dropped down to fifth, with Sergio Perez getting up to second. Daniel Ricciardo was starter of the day, coming down the inside to get into third from fifth on the grid.
The start was clean, and the action began on lap seven when Daniel Ricciardo pitted for primes. On the same lap, Romain Grosjean pulled off an outstanding move to pass Bottas at Les Combes.
The pit stops began and Ricciardo got the undercut on Perez to move up to second.
Max Verstappen has impressed many this year and pulled off a brave move around the outside of Blanchimont to get past Felipe Nasr.
Slick pit stops are crucial in Formula One, but Williams made a hash of Bottas’ first stop when they fitted three soft and one medium tyre, for which he picked up a drive-through penalty.
Daniel Ricciardo had put in a strong drive to try and pass Perez, but his car ground to a halt at he Bus Stop chicane on lap 20 with a power unit problem. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed, during which Rosberg closed up to the leader Lewis Hamilton.
The order then on lap 25 was Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat.
On lap 32, we were told that Vettel would be going to the end on a one-stop strategy, differing from the rest of the field that preferred two.
Two laps later and Romain Grosjean was beginning to catch Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari, with a fight amongst Raikkonen, Perez and Massa developing. Kvyat passed three cars in five laps to come home fourth in the end.
But what about the fight for third? With two laps to go, it was looking unlikely that Grosjean was going to be able to pass Vettel, but at the top of Eau Rouge, BANG! Vettel’s rear right tyre let go due to the amount of wear it had taken, the tyres seemingly unable to stretch to one stop.
Lewis Hamilton, then, took victory at Spa for only the second time in his career, with team mate Nico Rosberg making it a Mercedes one-two following the disappointment of Hungary. It was a Mercedes powered top three thanks to Grosjean and Lotus’ first podium since the US GP in 2013.
Kvyat’s fighting drive gave him a strong fourth place in the sole remaining Red Bull, with Sergio Perez a very good fifth for Force India. Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas scored points for Williams, with Raikkonen, Verstappen and Ericsson rounding out the points.
