Changing so many parts on the auto, it would have been easy to make mistakes.
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Formula One drivers are allowed a fixed number of engine parts when they fit more than six parts. Rosberg took first in the qualifier on Saturday, while Verstappen finished second.
With third place Hamilton lost only 10 points at Spa to victor and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to hold a nine-point lead in the championship, despite taking grid penalties for introducing three fresh engines this weekend.
“In general, yes, I had everything under control”, Rosberg told reporters. “He is a young boy that I like a lot”, Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff said. Before you judge Rosberg on this statistic, it would be prudent for us to share that in 12 attempts, double World Champion Fernando Alonso is yet to win here.
It was the fifth of seven rounds of the 1950 World Drivers’ Championship.
Rosberg got away cleanly, but it was intense behind him. “Congrats to Lewis, last place to third must be pretty impressive”. The Mercedes AMG driver managed to break teammate Lewis Hamilton’s four consecutive winning streak and showed exemplary performance throughout the race.
“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. Mercedes and Hamilton could’ve chosen which race on the calendar to take the penalty at and they were smart in choosing Spa.
The incidents prompted the safety auto to come out on lap three, and when the race re-started a lap later Sainz, Marcus Ericsson, Jenson Button and Pascal Wehrlein – who hit Button from behind – had all retired. This is primarily due to the high-speed nature of the circuit.
Hamilton, who started 21st after being handed 60 grid position penalties for taking three new power-units through the weekend, remains narrowly ahead of Rosberg in the title race with 232 points to his 223.
Rosberg, for whom this was his first win in five races and a vital step in reeling in Hamilton’s lead, admitted that the race had not proven to be a great challenge, with his rival so far back.
Starting from P21, Hamilton managed to find his way to the podium and limit the points damage to his Drivers’ championship tally.
Hamilton made a clean start and rose through the field to fifth on durable medium tyres as drivers peeled off into the pits under the safety-car period prompted by Kevin Magnussen’s massive crash.
Verstappen was leapfrogged by Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel off the line but attempted to make the places up on a tight first corner only for the three cars to collide.
Although overtaken by Alonso, Hamilton was still up to 15th by the end of lap one as Verstappen, Nasr, Vettel, Button and Raikkonen all pitted with damage. As for Magnussen, let’s hope he’s ready in time for Monza (this weekend), else Renault might have to call upon their reserve Esteban Ocon, who debut for Manor in Spa.
Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), a time of continuing Rosberg fails him off the podium, just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.
Max Verstappen, the Belgian born Dutch racing prodigy, is turning out to be Formula 1’s new trump card to attract crowds at racing events.
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German Nico Rosberg steered clear of the chaos unfolding behind him and cruised to an unchallenged win in a disrupted Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. However, his race driving, mainly defense against Kimi Raikkonen, was discussed much by a few drivers and experts for moving at the very last second in the braking area – an act that usually leads to avoidable accidents.
