Spa-Francorchamps: A victorious Nico Rosberg had no idea where his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton had finished in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix until he studied the results after finishing the race.
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For Hamilton’s team-mate Rosberg, who endured a miserable run of results before the summer break, surely only victory will suffice.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held off a late charge by Hamilton to place second.
Fernando Alonso was already due to join Hamilton on the back row after serving an engine penalty, and his miserable weekend continued in qualifying after he failed to set a time when his McLaren came to a stop on track just moments after leaving the pit-lane.
The reigning champion had climbed to fifth by the time the race was red-flagged on lap nine following Renault driver Kevin Magnussen’s heavy crash, before then claiming a podium place come the finish.
Rosberg turned in a faultless drive to win from pole at Spa, converting pole to victory on a weekend which saw his teammate and nearest title rival take a hefty grid penalty for engine changes.
That penalty for Hamilton, the outcome of early season engine problems, has left the door open for Rosberg to at the very least make major inroads to his championship deficit.
“We had a hard weekend until qualifying”, Rosberg said, “Especially, this morning we were thinking that we were off the pace a bit”. “It’ll be a very challenging race tomorrow and we’ll see a bit of everything”.
It was about trying to have the right approach – not too aggressive and not too easy – and collectively as a team we had the right balance. “It’s ridiculous. It’s good TV if someone is moaning, but especially after (the first corner) when they do something like that I’m not going to give up my position easily”.
“It’s been a vacation weekend”, joked Hamilton who has focused his attention this weekend on race pace rather than flat-out qualifying blasts.
“But someone took me up to the paddock club today and I said [in an interview] I might not even finish”.
Rosberg also attempted to brush aside the advantage Hamilton now has in terms of additional engine components to see out the remainder of the season.
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The 15-minute suspension enforced a clean start, with Hamilton seemingly in position to challenge for an unlikely win. “Still, tomorrow is the race and I feel satisfied”.
