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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Soaring temperatures proved problematic for a number of drivers, with Rosberg and Hamilton among those to report issues with their tyres as a result.
Hamilton started the race from 21st place, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in 22nd and last.
By then he had too much to do to catch Ricciardo but succeeded in limiting the damage to his title bid.
Rosberg used a fourth fourth ICE and turbocharger at the Belgian Grand Prix while also taking a third MGU-H and MGU-K. “I can’t say right now what the plan is – the team will know already what’s best and we’ll discuss that later”.
“I was really of the mind that whatever happens, it is what it is, and then for the next race I’ve got the same amount of engines, if not more than others now, and I can fight in the last eight races”.
“This weekend I came here to win the Belgian Grand Prix and I managed to do that”.
Jenson Button will start in ninth while British rookie Jolyon Palmer qualified 14th albeit almost half-a-second slower and two places behind his Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Over the course of the weekend Mercedes has fitted an updated power unit to Hamilton’s vehicle ahead of each practice session, creating a pool of new components to be used over the remaining nine races of the season.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who is playing second fiddle to Verstappen, starts the race from fifth spot.
Sunday’s victory is Rosberg’s 20th of his F1 career and he is now ranked second in the F1 standings, with 223 points, just nine points behind Leader Hamilton.
The safety auto was initially deployed, but damage sustained to the tyre barrier meant the race was suspended to allow for further repairs.
But he had the big disadvantage today, so I don’t think about it in that way and I’m just focusing on my thing and that’s it. “As soon as I crossed the line in Q3 on my fastest lap, I could see the fans going really wild so I knew it was a good lap”.
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The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were in sixth and ninth with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa rounding out the top 10 in eighth and tenth.
