Following his dominant pole on Saturday, Hamilton resisted the very first lap slipstreaming contest to Les Combes to hold onto the lead, prior to maintaining it for all 44 laps to liquidate his 5th success out of 7 races this year. Bottas came home around 8 seconds behind his team mate, with Verstappen an additional seven seconds down the road.
Mercedes Lewis Hamilton swept to his 4th triumph at the Belgian Grand Prix, leading home his group mate Valtteri Bottas as Red Bulls Max Verstappen took 3rd to maintain his record of ending up on the podium at every race hes been classified in this year.
Renaults Daniel Ricciardo led house the groups best finish of the year in 4th, crossing the line under 4 seconds behind Verstappen after some quick final laps, with Esteban Ocon surpassing the Red Bull of Alex Albon on the last trip to take fifth, Albon just keeping 6th from the McLaren of Lando Norris.
McLarens Carlos Sainz was unable to take the race start after a power unit caused an exhaust issue, while there was a Safety Car after 11 laps of 44, after a huge crash for Alfa Romeos Antonio Giovinazzi, with Williams George Russell showing up on the scene and striking Giovinazzis wheel, which forced his own retirement– although both drivers were fine.
Hamiltons 4th Belgian Grand Prix win sees him draw equivalent with Jim Clark and Kimi Raikkonen on third in the all-time list for Spa success, behind Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
An excellent drive from Pierre Gasly saw him take 8th for AlphaTauri, while the final points were taken by the Racing Point pair of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez in P9 and P10– with the Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finishing out of the points in P13 and P14 respectively.
1
Lewis
Hamilton
HAM
Mercedes
1:24:08.761
25
2
Valtteri
Bottas
BOT
Mercedes
+8.448 s.
18.
3.
Max.
Verstappen.
VER.
Red Bull Racing.
+15.455 s.
15.
4.
+18.877 s.
Daniel.
Ricciardo.
RIC.
Renault.
13.
5.
+40.650 s.
Esteban.
Ocon.
OCO.
Renault.
10.
6.
+42.712 s.
Alexander.
Albon.
ALB.
Red Bull Racing.
8.
7.
+43.774 s.
Lando.
Norris.
NOR.
McLaren.
6.
8.
+47.371 s.
Pierre.
Gasly.
GAS.
AlphaTauri.
4.
9.
Lance.
Walk.
STR.
Racing Point.
+52.603 s.
2.
10.
+53.179 s.
Sergio.
Perez.
PER.
Racing Point.
1.
It was Bottas who was marginally the faster of the two Mercedes at the decidedly rain-less race start, but Hamilton angled his W11 towards his group mate and swept over to cover him off and led into Turn 1 from Bottas, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Ocon, who d leapt Alex Albon off the line.
Behind, Ferraris Charles Leclerc had elected to begin on the softs, and used them well to leap four put on the first lap up to P9, while Antonio Giovinazzi and Kevin Magnussen were on the relocation too, making up 4 and five locations respectively on the very first tour.
Pierre Gasly had actually leapt his AlphaTauri group mate Daniil Kvyat for P10 at the start despite being shod with hard tyres to Kvyats mediums. And the Frenchman was racing wonderfully in the early laps, withstanding Sergio Perezs squeeze on the run down from La Source to take the Mexican at the within Eau Rouge for ninth, before nicking P8 from Leclerc a lap later.
Enjoy the race start at Spa-Francorchamps.
By Lap 22 of 44, it was Hamilton was a 3s lead from Bottas, who had Verstappen in close company, while over 10s behind the leading 3 came Ricciardo in 4th– who had actually breezed past Gasly down the Kemmel Straight on Lap 21– with Gasly in 5th heading Albon, with Ocon, Stroll, Norris and Kvyat completing the leading 10. Eventually, Gasly was then unable to withstand the superior speed of either Albon or Ocon, who handed down Lap 24 and Lap 26 respectively.
AS IT HAPPENED.
SEE: Giovinazzi and Russell stroll away after huge shunt in Belgian GP.
Gasly was flying in the early part of the race.
The Safety Car was duly brought out as the two cars were recuperated, and the particles swept up, with all bar Gasly and Perez pitting, implying that at the Lap 15 reboot it was Hamilton from Bottas, Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, Ricciardo and Albon– who had actually managed to jump Ocon in the pits, with the Thai motorist the only one to handle mediums in the stop, as everyone else went with hards.
Hamilton led Bottas through the corner, while Ricciardo got down the inside of Verstappen and attempted to difficult it out around the beyond the left-hand part of the chicane, prior to Verstappen ran him out of road– Ricciardo then almost handling to sneak through when Verstappen subsequently ran wide at Malmedy, prior to eventually accepting his 4th location.
As they slipstreamed down to Les Combes– Hamilton recovering from a small wobble on the exit of La Source– the leading 4 scrambled for position, however ultimately, the order remained the same.
Any worries Mercedes might have had about an intra-team fight were neutralised nevertheless, as Giovinazzi lost his Alfa Romeo on the exit of the Fagnes chicane, smearing his C39 down the outside wall and losing a tire which then bounced scarily into the course of the following George Russell.
McLarens Carlos Sainz missed out on all the enjoyable, nevertheless, after a power system problem on his MCL35 led to an exhaust failure on his laps to the grid which meant he could not take the start.
Hamilton nailed the reboot and the order was unchanged bar Stroll taking Norris for ninth, while on Lap 16, Raikkonen benched the works Ferrari of Vettel to P13– Vettel having leapt Leclerc in the pits, after Ferrari werent all set for the Monegasque, leaving him stationary for 10.4 s. Perez had been excluded on the soft tyres– and after losing locations in quick succession to Ricciardo and Albon, Racing Point brought him in on Lap 19 for hards, dropping him down to Last and 17th.
Race Highlights: 2020 Belgian Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Sainzs Belgian GP over before it begins after exhaust failure on lap to grid.
By Lap 10 Hamilton was around 2 seconds clear of Bottas, who had actually asked to utilize his push button to close and attempt approximately and assault his team mate. “We concurred not to utilize it against each other,” came his race engineers action. “I never heard that,” retorted Bottas.
Luckily, it just took off Russells own right-front wheel, with both motorists ending up parked beside each other prior to emerging from their vehicles shaken but healthy, and quite out of the race.
ANALYSIS: How and why are Ferrari up until now off the rate in Belgium?
” It wasnt the most convenient of races. I had a lock-up into Turn 5 which began to offer a bit of a vibration and then one into the last corner.– Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes.
” It wasnt the simplest of races.
Lance Stroll was categorized ahead of Sergio Perez for the second race in a row, getting home ninth to Perezs 10th– the Racing Points race pace having once again stopped working to shine as vibrantly as their midfield rivals, on a day when there d been whispers of podium potential for the Pink Panthers.
Another lap or more and Ricciardo might have taken his first podium for Renault.
With three laps to go, Hamilton was 7 seconds clear of Bottas, who was a more 7s up the roadway from Verstappen– although both Mercedes chauffeurs were fretted about the condition of their tyres, with some nervy radio calls to the group as fears of a 70th Anniversary GP-style repeat ending appeared to bubble up in the Silver Arrows camps.
Hamilton honours the late actor Chadwick Boseman on the podium.
Mentioning passing a Red Bull, Ocon did simply that on the last lap, surpassing Albon– who d dropped significantly off the back of Ricciardo in the center part of the race– to claim fifth, as Renault matched their best outcome given that returning to F1 in 2016.
Whats next?
Perez was on the relocation after his balanced out rest stop.
Meanwhile Ferrari leave Belgium with work to do ahead of their home race at Monza in a weeks time, as Vettel led Leclerc house in P13 and P14, Vettel having actually embarrassingly been passed by the Ferrari client Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen on Lap 33– for the second time that day.
Lando Norris was also flying in the final laps, closing up to the back of the Ocon/Albon squabble before opting for seventh, simply 1.062 s behind Albon. Gasly had when again showed his excellent 2020 type– in what will certainly ramp up the pressure on Albon after a somewhat underwhelming day for the Thai chauffeur– as the AlphaTauri driver came home eighth, less than 5 seconds behind Albon.
Having done some wheel-banging with his team mate on Lap 19, Leclerc was generated on Lap 25 after simply 14 laps on the hard tyres, Ferrari swapping him to mediums and keeping him in package for five seconds, the team seen topping up the pneumatic pressure in the stop.
Those fears eventually proved unfounded, however, as Hamilton alleviated throughout the line to take his 89th triumph, and fourth at Spa in a race where the threatened rain failed to materialise, with Bottas coming home second, seven seconds to the great over Verstappen, who d when again in some way managed to summon up Mercedes-esque speed from his Red Bull RB16 in what was otherwise a “pretty dull” race, according to the Dutchman.
By Lap 10 Hamilton was around 2 seconds clear of Bottas, who d asked to utilize his push button to try and close up to and assault his team mate. “We agreed not to use it against each other,” came his race engineers reaction. With Verstappens tyres likewise fading in the last laps, Ricciardo was flying in fourth location. He gave it all on the final lap, taking the fastest race lap to finish just 3.422 s behind his old Red Bull group mate, and bringing about a spontaneous burst of applause from the Renault pit wall– although that might have just been Cyril Abiteboul commemorating the truth that he didnt have to get a tattoo, which he would have done if Ricciardo had actually passed the Red Bull.
The crucial quote.
With the race calming down metronomically in the middle laps, it was just the alternative-strategied Perez and Gasly who were making severe waves, as they climbed their method into the points after their balanced out stops, with Gasly then nipping previous Perez on the Kemmel Straight for P9 on Lap 40, before getting the 2nd Racing Point of Stroll three laps later.
So, thats now 2 success on the bounce for Hamilton and his fifth of the season, as the Mercedes chauffeur now extends his champion lead over Max Verstappen to 47 points– with 10 races left to go in this uncommon year.
WATCH: The F1 chauffeurs observe a minutes silence at Spa in memory of Anthoine Hubert.
From one traditional racetrack, we go straight to another, as Formula 1 heads to Monza for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. Who can conquer the Temple of Speed next weekend? Tune in on September 4-6 to discover out.
The real drama in the last act was simply behind, however. With Verstappens tyres likewise fading in the last laps, Ricciardo was flying in fourth place. He provided everything on the last lap, taking the fastest race lap to end up simply 3.422 s behind his old Red Bull team mate, and causing a spontaneous burst of applause from the Renault pit wall– although that might have just been Cyril Abiteboul celebrating the truth that he didnt need to get a tattoo, which he would have done if Ricciardo had passed the Red Bull.
