Nico Rosberg took a comfortable victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps while Lewis Hamilton made the most of early incidents to take a podium finish.
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Australian Daniel Ricciardo carried over Red Bull’s strong form from Friday’s practice sessions to take second, 0.215 seconds behind.
Because Hamilton was already certain to start the race from the back of the grid as a result of incurring grid penalties linked to too many engine part changes this season.
Rosberg, runner-up to Hamilton in the past two seasons, won the opening four races of the campaign as Hamilton struggled with mechanical problems.
“With some luck and a maybe a safety auto, Lewis can climb up to the top very quickly, so he can’t be ruled out either”, he added.
Huelkenberg and team-mate Sergio Perez were next up, Vettel recovered to finish sixth, with Alonso seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas in a Williams, Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in a Williams.
The 18-year-old Verstappen, the youngest driver to ever start on the front row, was overtaken by Raikkonen and Vettel and then aggressively tried to squeeze past them on the inside, heading into the first turn. 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.
“Congratulations to the guy next to me (Rosberg), this is great for Mercedes and still great for the championship”.
Nico Rosberg took the win at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes, but Lewis Hamilton drove from the back to take an impressive third. “It has been a remarkable day and a great race”.
Hamilton limited the German’s gain on him to just 10 points, meaning the Briton remains nine points ahead in the championship heading into next weekend’s Italian GP at Monza.
The green flags didn’t stay out for long after this, Kevin Magnussen losing control of his Renault at Radillion, slamming into the barriers at frightening speed. “Sure, I’m aware of it, but he had the big disadvantage at the weekend”.
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“If I had a choice of tracks to start dead last and overtake this is definitely not in the top three”, said Hamilton, who posted one compulsory lap in qualifying on Saturday before watching the remaining action unfold with his feet up in the team’s hospitality suite. The team did an awesome job this weekend.
