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.
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Hamilton, whose paternal grandparents are Grenadian, started in 21st place on the grid, after a raft of engine penalties resulting from failures early in the season. The 31-year-old Rosberg, who started from his third successive pole position, led from start to finish in a 44-laps race fractured by accidents and incidents to secure his first victory in Belgium and his sixth of the season.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull completed the podium line-up, finishing behind Rosberg.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished third in FP2, with Sebastian Vettel, who went off at Les Combes at one stage, fourth.
The race would then be suspended on lap eight after Renault driver Kevin Magnussen was fortunate to walk away from a high-speed crash, after losing control coming out of Eau Rouge.
Rosberg now has a great chance to seriously reduce his championship deficit to Hamilton.
Rosberg, who finished only seventh in final practice on Saturday morning, said: “We had a hard weekend up to now and especially this morning as we were seriously off the pace on one lap”.
First, a slow-starting Verstappen – in front of an army of Dutch supporters – was gobbled up by the Ferrari duo of Vettel and Raikkonen before Vettel turned into his team-mate, with Raikkonen then bumping into Verstappen. So I was really happy to grab pole today.
Despite his surprise, Rosberg insists he does not feel disappointed that he is leaving Belgium having only taken ten points out of Hamilton’s championship lead.
Hamilton though was able to take advantage of the chaos at the start.
“I didn’t expect Lewis to be third and that was pretty impressive”, the German said.
“Lewis starting from the back made it a lot easier, and I’m sure he’s going to be back in Monza and it’s going to be a big battle as always”.
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“If I had known this was going to happen, I would have had an even better summer”, said Hamilton.
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His team-mate Jenson Button qualified ninth, splitting the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.
