Nico Rosberg was handed a much-needed break in the Formula One title battle which he duly converted by winning Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, but victory could have tasted much sweeter for the German.
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“The good thing now is I have got these engines and hopefully we will have a clean second half of the season”, he said.
From being 19 points in front before the race, Hamilton was only nine ahead – but that was a triumph for the champion given that he had taken three new power-units and collected a total of 60 penalty places for the grid.
“I am so happy and proud of everyone”.
The race was red-flagged after nine laps in the worst incident when Dane Kevin Magnussen crashed heavily but limped away from his wrecked Renault vehicle with only a damaged ankle.
Starting from pole position, Rosberg avoided trouble in an incident-packed race featuring a chaotic first turn, wild overtaking, a heavy crash, safety cars, a red flag and heated language between Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen – the youngest and oldest in the race. His teammate, Sergio Perez, accompanied him on the fifth position to bring the Force India team on the fourth place in the constructor’s standings, ahead of Williams team.
Valtteri Bottas was able to finish eighth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and Felipe Massa at the tenth position.
Trouble started right from the outset, however, with Vettel and Ferrari teammate Raikkonen colliding on the first corner. I think collectively as a team we had just the right balance. The race was briefly halted with nine of the 44 laps completed after the crash for Magnussen, who lost control of his Renault as he crested the fearsome Eau Rouge. Back in the order, Hamilton was able to pass Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.
Raikkonen – who is twice Verstappen’s age – let his frustration out, saying “his only interest is to push me off the track”.
“It’s like on Christmas Day, I never expect anything”, the Briton told reporters. Hamilton’s endeavour has earned him fifteen points in the race. taking his total 232 points, which is a tad bit ahead of Rosberg’s 223. Hamilton headed into the weekend in Belgium with only one system he claimed was “on its last legs” but now has three fresh and updated engines after Mercedes used five development tokens for an upgrade.
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Asked if he was surprised Hamilton was as high as fifth when the race was restarted on lap 10, race-winner Rosberg admits the final result I surprised him.
