Hamilton fights back as Rosberg wins at Spaposted in F128 | 08 | 2016
NICO ROSBERG WON the Belgian Grand Prix for the first time, but in a chaotic race his Mercedes team-mate Lewis hamilton stormed through from 21st on the grid to finish third. Hamilton heads to Monza this weekend with a nine-point lead in the title race.
While much of the attention was focussed on Hamilton’s charge — and also that of Fernando Alonso, who started 22nd and brought his McLaren-Honda home seventh — the race was dominated by a spectacular crash for Kevin Magnussen, and a row over another sudden high-speed blocking move by Max Verstappen.
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Six laps into the race, Magnussen took too much kerb, appeared to bottom out and then lost the rear of his Renault. The car them speared right and into the barriers at the exit of the Raidillon left-hander that immediately follows Eau Rouge.
The Dane’s car ended up buried in the tyre barrier and partially lifted off the ground. Though he was able to walk away from the incident, he was taken to hospital to be checked out.
After being released from hospital in nearby Verviers, having undergone scans and X-rays, Magnussen stated he will be fit to race in Italy this weekend, having suffered no more than a cut to his left ankle.
Verstappen, meanwhile, found himself again locked in a verbal post-race battle with Kimi Raikkonen after the two clashed on-track.
At the first right-hand corner of the first lap, the Finn turned his Ferrari in on Verstappen’s Red Bull, damaging both cars. To make matters worse, Raikkonen also made contact with team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s car. The German four-time world champ appeared to squeeze Raikkonen into the corner.
Raikkonen and Verstappen were forced to pit for repairs. But worse was to come soon after the restart — caused by the red flag to allow repairs to the damaged tyre wall caused by Magnussen’s crash — when Verstappen blocked Raikkonen at high speed on the Kemmel straight. The Finn turned the air blue with an expletive-laden outburst over the team radio.
Afterwards, a still furious Raikkonen launched a blistering verbal assault on the young Dutch racer, claiming the teenager moved too late to cover the inside line.
"The problem is when I came with DRS I am 15-20kph faster than him and once I turn he waits and waits and turns after me," Raikkonen said.
"The speed difference is quite high, so I have to brake and slow down to avoid him. It's not what should happen at full speed, but for whatever reasons the stewards say it is OK.
"If I would not have braked we would have had a massive accident and I'm sure it will happen sooner or later if this doesn't change.
"It seems to be OK, because Verstappen was not penalised, so it's interesting to see once something happens who is to blame.
"Maybe it needs an accident before things get more clear to everybody, but hopefully not because it can be bad for somebody and nobody wants to see something like that happen.
"Fighting hard is fine, but something like that should not be correct."
At the front of the field, Rosberg let from start to finish, and never came under any pressure. Behind him, Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo cruised to a trouble-free second, comfortably holding off Hamilton.
F1 — Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps (Result):
1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 44 laps 1h 44m 51.055s
2. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer +14.1s
3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +27.6
4. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +35.9s
5. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +40.6s
6. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +45.3s
7. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +59.4s
8. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +60.1s
9. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +61.1s
10. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +65.8s
11. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +71.1s
12. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +73.8s
13. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +76.4s
14. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +87.0s
15. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +93.1s
16. Esteban Ocon FRA MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
17. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
Retired:
Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 4 laps completed
Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 2 laps completed
Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap completed
Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 0 laps completed
Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Fastest lap:
Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 51.583s
Related: Rosberg on Spa pole as Hamilton starts 21st
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Jim McGill