As pole-sitter Rosberg raced out in front and never looked back Hamilton weaved his way through the field in what turned out to be an eventual first few laps that saw, Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen all collide at the first corner and suffer c ar damage.
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Rosberg led the Belgian GP right from the grid which was followed by Verstappen in second place with a poor start losing his position to both Ferraris on the grid.
Hamilton actually admitted that he thought he had a good chance of winning after the red flag opened the race up with just nine laps gone. The impeded Ferraris were now squeezed wide and, as a effect, Raikkonen went across and nudged into the side of Vettel. Vettel spun and ended up at the back of the grid, Räikkönen and Verstappen returned to the pits for repairs. “That’s what I want to do but the other drivers are hustling for position so all the years of experience came to fruition in the race”.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz lost control when his rear right tire blew out, sending him pirouetting to an improvised halt on the grass.
The race was stopped for almost a quarter of an hour after ten rounds, following the overrun of Kevin Magnussen (Renault) after the fifth corner of Eau Rouge.
When the race resumed 20 minutes later, the top five was Rosberg-Ricciardo-Hulkenberg-Alonso-Hamilton.
Asked whether he was surprised at seeing Hamilton in fifth when the race was stopped, he replied: “That I didn’t see”. By lap 9 he was already at 11th behind Fernando Alonso, still aeons away from the podium.
Hamilton admitted that, without the safety vehicle and red flag, he would have only managed to finish in the top ten.
German Nico Hulkenberg finished fourth ahead of his Force India team-mate Sergio Perez, as the Silverstone-based team overhauled rivals Williams in the constructors’ championship.
“To come out with a clean race like I did and only lose 10 points and have three new engines, it’s a super bonus”, said the Briton.
I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in this race. Magnussen hobbled away to the medical centre, somehow escaping with a minor ankle injury.
Even Sauber wasn’t saved from the mess; it was forced to retire Marcus Ericsson’s auto with a gearbox problem.
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.
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“If the tyres were better, for example, I could have pushed and closed the gap and actually had a fight with Daniel but that’s not the case and so I just had to manage them for as long as I could, but I had to stop more than these two guys in order to make that passing manoeuvre”. The upcoming Italian GP next weekend should put the focus back on the Mercedes drivers.
