Posted on 29th August 2016
At the Belgian GP at the Spa-Francorchamps yesterday, Nico Rosberg claimed his fifth win of the 2016 season, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton in a race which had a Safety Car and a red flag period and has cut the lead of the Drivers' Championship down to nine points; even though Lewis Hamilton stormed through the field from the back to third place in a damage limitation weekend for the current world champion.
The chaos started at La Source, when Max Verstappen got bogged down off the line and was jumped by both Ferraris behind him. Verstappen switched to the inside of Kimi Raikkonen for Turn 1, who was then squeezed by Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel — who would not have seen Verstappen on the inside. Vettel hit Raikkonen, spinning around in the process, before Raikkonen and Verstappen made contact.
On the run down the hill, Verstappen’s front wing came loose, while Raikkonen’s car sprayed sparks from the rear for the rest of the lap — all three men pitted at the end of the lap. The floor of Raikkonen’s car appeared to catch fire at the rear during his stop, delaying him significantly in the pit lane.
Further back in the field on the crazy first lap, Pascal Wehrlein speared into the back of Jenson Button at Les Combes, waving his hand angrily in the direction of the McLaren driver. Wehrlein appeared to have more drive around the outside and was trying to undercut the McLaren driver on exit of the corner. Both men retired from the race.
On lap two, Carlos Sainz’s right rear exploded on the Kemmel Straight. The Toro Rosso driver kept his car going but ended up spinning on the exit of Les Combes, before retiring further down the road with his rear wing hanging vertically off his car.
After a brief Virtual Safety Car period, the drama continued, with Magnussen spinning violently at the top of the hill at Eau Rouge and colliding heavily into the barriers on Lap 6. The Renault driver limped away from the incident, went to the hospital for checks and only had a sore ankle as a result of it. After four laps behind a Safety Car, the race was red flagged so marshals could repair the damaged wall.
After Rosberg perfectly managed the restart and his next stint, the real interest was the battle developing for the podium behind him. The red flag had come at a perfect time for Fernando Alonso and Hamilton, who had both started on the medium tyre and were sat fourth and fifth, with many other drivers pitting immediately after Magnussen’s crash after the deployment of the Safety Car.
Hamilton quickly cleared Alonso and Hulkenberg but was soon complaining about his tyres sliding a lot, prompting a pit stop on Lap 22 and taking on the soft tyres. Hamilton had a used set of the more favourable medium tyre, guaranteeing he would have to stop again and meaning a podium was by no means a certainty at mid-distance.
That stint lasted just 11 laps, with Hamilton pitting again on Lap 33 for the used mediums. He emerged in fourth ahead of Perez and quickly dispatched Hulkenberg, though Ricciardo was too far down the road for the championship leader to harbour ambitions of finishing second.
There was also nearly a collision in the pit lane between Hulkenberg and Alonso on Lap 24. With Alonso nearly released into the path of the Force India, the two men exited side-by-side with Hulkenberg marginally ahead on the outside. Alonso grazed Hulkenberg’s car with his tyre and did well to keep the car out of the wall, keeping position and staying inside the white line on exit. Hulkenberg turned in a great drive to fourth but will be wondering what might have been, as he had been on Rosberg’s tail with fresher tyres when the red flags dropped on lap 11.
Away from the battle for the podium, Verstappen and Raikkonen’s battle continued in the second stint, with the Dutch teenager forcing the 2007 world champion wide at Les Combes. The incident then prompted a series of explitive-laden radio tirades from Raikkonen, who complained Verstappen’s only interest “is hitting me off the circuit”.
But it was Nico Rosberg won the Belgian GP ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who was 14.113 seconds behind him and ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who had an amazing drive to third place from the back of the grid and finished 27.634 seconds behind Rosberg.
Nico Hulkenberg drove a great race to fourth, agonisingly short of a first career podium which may well have materialised had he not stopped for tyres just before the race was red flagged. Hulkenberg did finish ahead of his team mate Sergio Perez in fifth place which then moved Force India above Williams in the constructors’ standings.
Sebastian Vettel ended the race in sixth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh place, Valtteri Bottas in eighth place, Kimi Raikkonen in ninth place and Felipe Massa who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Max Verstappen ended the race in eleventh place ahead of Esteban Gutierrez in twelfth place, Romain Grosjean in thirteenth place, Daniil Kvyat in fourteenth place and Jolyon Palmer in fifteenth place.
Esteban Ocon finished his first race in F1 in sixteenth place ahead of Felipe Nasr in seventeenth place. Kevin Magnussen, Marcus Ericsson, Carlos Sainz Jr, Jenson Button and Pascal Wehrlein did not finish the race.
The classification for the Belgian GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.44.51.058s
2. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 14.113s
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 27.634s
4. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 35.907s
5. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 40.660s
6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 45.934s
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 59.445s
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.00.151s
9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.01.109s
10. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.05.873s
11. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.11.138s
12. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 1.13.877s
13. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.16.474s
14. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.27.097s
15. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.33.165s
16. Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 1 lap
17. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1lap
18. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, Not Classified
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, Not Classified
20. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Not Classified
21. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified
22. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, Not Classified
Lewis Hamilton still leads the Driver's Championship with 232 points, Nico Rosberg is in second place with 223 points, Daniel Ricciardo is in third place with 151 points, Sebastian Vettel is in fourth place with 128 points, Kimi Raikkonen is in fifth place with 124 points, Max Verstappen is in sixth place with 115 points, Valtteri Bottas is in seventh place with 62 points, Sergio Perez is in eighth place with 58 points, Nico Hulkenberg is in ninth place with 45 points and Felipe Massa is in tenth place with 39 points.
Mercedes still lead the Constructors Championship with 455 points, Red Bull is in second place with 274 points, Ferrari is in third place with 252 points, Force India is in fourth place with 103 points, Williams is in fifth place with 101 points, McLaren is in sixth place with 48 points, Toro Rosso is in seventh place with 45 points, Haas is in eighth place with 28 points, Renault is in ninth place with 6 points and Manor are tenth with 1 point.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
