After a further power unit change ahead of final practice, Lewis Hamilton’s grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix has hit 55 places, ensuring he will start from the last row of the grid in Sunday’s race.
Advertisement
The race was briefly halted with nine of the 44 laps completed after a massive crash for Kevin Magnussen, who lost control of his Renault as he crested the fearsome Eau Rouge.
“We prepared ourselves in the way we hoped to get some points, but one of my guys took me up to the Paddock Club before the race and I said “I might not finish today”, Hamilton revealed after Sunday’s eventful grand prix.
“We had a hard weekend until Qualifying”, Rosberg said afterward. “Today was about having the right approach, not too aggressive”.
Rosberg’s win was his 20th but first at Spa. “So, just happy it worked out, ideal weekend for me”. “Awesome recovery and a really good job done”.
After Hamilton’s third power-unit change on Saturday morning consigned him to the back of the grid, Rosberg was back to something like his best.
Hamilton was aided by the collision between Max Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel at the start, meaning all three were behind him at the end of lap one.
It helped Hamilton and Alonso, who avoided the early carnage up front, then gained places when the safety auto came out after Danish driver Kevin Magnussen’s crash.
Magnussen limped away from the mangled wreckage and was taken to a clinic for medical checks.
First, a slow-starting Verstappen was gobbled up by the Ferrari duo of Vettel and Raikkonen before Vettel turned into his teammate with Raikkonen then bumping into Verstappen.
The impeded Ferraris were now squeezed wide and, as a outcome, Raikkonen came across and nudged into the side of Vettel. I’m happy to have won the race, it’s been a great weekend for me and that’s it. He infuriated Raikkonen, a rare feat considering the Finn’s nickname is “The Ice Man” for his usually unflappable demeanour.
Asked whether he was disappointed not to have made a bigger indent into Hamilton’s points advantage, Rosberg says he sees no reason to feel disheartened.
Vettel appeared the man at fault, turning into his teammate, who skittered into Verstappen, ruining his race. “I’m not going to let them past”. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), 15.
Advertisement
Thanks to a red-flag situation caused by Kevin Magnussen driving his Renault into a wall, the red flag was deployed and the race was even suspended for a short time right after in order to fix the severly damaged wall. He soon displaced Fernando Alonso for fourth and then Nico Hulkenberg for third, and was running down Daniel Ricciardo for second.
