Nico Rosberg of Germany puts his hand up as he crosses the finish line to win the Formula One Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016.
Advertisement
“Meanwhile, Kevin Magnusson was taken to hospital with an ankle injury following a heavy crash, which delayed the race on lap six, in which his Renault smashed into the wall at 180mph, while McLaren’s Jenson Button was forced to retire in the first lap after Pascal Wehrlein went into the back of his vehicle”.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished second.
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.
The huge stunt forced the race to be red flagged while the tyre barrier was fixed.
By then he had too much to do to catch Ricciardo but succeeded in limiting the damage to his title bid.
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.
However, Hamilton believes that having fresh engines to see out the remainder of the season means he can push them harder than he was able to earlier in the year.
“This is the best result I could have hoped for”.
‘I have changed three engines so we are ahead of the others and that is great.
While Magnussen’s vehicle was in bits, so too was the tyre wall at Eau Rouge, and the real safety auto was deployed.
Rosberg’s win was his 20th but first at Spa.
It was Verstappen’s first-turn incident with the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel that shaped a dramatic race. “Last year we had a race where Jenson took 52 penalty places and it was ridiculous”, he said.
Hamilton is joined at the back by McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, who’s taking a 35-place hit for engine changes.
“With some luck and a maybe a safety vehicle, Lewis can climb up to the top very quickly, so he can’t be ruled out either”, he added.
The incident involving Magnussen capped a remarkable start to F1’s first race since the summer break – but Hamilton was unruffled and emerged in podium contention by the time the safety vehicle had been called.
“I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in the race”, said Hamilton, whose rise up the order was helped by the opening lap collisions and race disruptions.
Hamilton came in for new tires on lap 22, switching to softs, and was down in ninth when he came back out after a slow pit stop.
Advertisement
“It was a great race, and there was a great atmosphere thanks to these fans”.
