Nico Rosberg was expected to win the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes after securing pole – which he did – and Lewis Hamilton was expected to fight is way through the field from the back after penalties, which he did.
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Nico Rosberg won the Belgian Grand Prix but Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished third, despite starting at the back of the grid.
The German beat Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), while Championship leader Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), climbed from 21st to 3rd place.
“I would definitely have taken that before the race”, said Hamilton. “My aim has always been to be able to win races in F1, and if this is not possible for me I will go and do something else”. “I was not expecting it and I had no idea what we were capable of, but I had a positive mental attitude today and it worked”. The vehicle is positioned a different way, the start is a bit different, something happens up front, previous races there was no incidents and today there was.
The race means Rosberg has closed the gap to Hamilton, sitting just nine points behind with eight races to go.
“I think we just made our country even prouder”, he said to Webber, while race victor Nico Rosberg and Hamilton looked on.
Force India’s Sergio Perez finished fifth to move Force India above Williams in the constructors’ standings. Both drivers of the Scuderia were again unable to play leading roles, and may be lucky to finish in points (6th Vettel, Raikkonen 9th).
No driver has recovered so many positions to finish on the podium at Spa than Hamilton.
The Dane, who was taken to hospital for routine checks after suffering a small cut to his left ankle, slammed violently into the barriers.
The Ferraris were pushed wide and, as a outcome, Raikkonen nudged into the side of Vettel.
Speeding uphill through the daunting Eau Rouge corner, Magnussen lost control at the crest of the climb before careering backwards into the tyre barrier.
And by the time of Kevin Magnussen’s spectacular 180mph off on lap six, Hamilton was already knocking on the door of the points in 11th.
Mercedes and Hamilton had come to accept that Hamilton would be forced to take grid penalties at some point during this season, and so the team opted to fit many new components to the vehicle during practice this weekend. That prompted a series of explitive-laden radio tirades from Raikkonen, who complained Verstappen’s only interest “is hitting me off the circuit”.
Hamilton had started from the last row with a 55-place penalty for the new engines this weekend, which was compounded to an even greater level of meaninglessness with a further five places deducted when the team broke a seal on the auto under parc ferme conditions – in order to be able to change the gearbox at the next round in Monza.
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Rosberg’s lead was 5.5 seconds at half-distance, when Hamilton pitted for a new set of softs.
