Hamilton wins in Belgium

If anything it got better through the race and I never felt under pressure. “Thank you”.

“My last two laps were my best two laps of the weekend”, Hamilton, who grabbed his sixth pole in a row, told the media. “It was an incredible weekend for me”.

“I just completely messed it up, which was annoying”, he admitted. It is a hot moment and I don’t want to enter into a war of words over that – it is pointless for everybody. “Then, after the virtual safety auto, I was able to push and get the gap out again”.

“Being here today is special for us, it has the price of a race win”, said Grosjean, who has worked with a sports psychologist to overcome the trauma of a race ban incurred when he triggered a pile-up at the start in 2012.

Grosjean made his first podium since finishing second in the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in 2013.

Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff said that Rosberg had to start beating Hamilton in qualifying to have a chance of the title. Rosberg now trailed the leader by a little over three seconds.

While Hamilton had no trouble getting away, Rosberg struggled badly and slipped from second to fifth as he lost ground to Sergio Perez in Force India, Valtteri Bottas of Williams and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Second-placed Nico Rosberg had his 36th podium, while this race marks victor Hamilton’s 39th F1 victory. To add insult to injury Bottas was penalized a drive through for having an improper set of tires on his vehicle.

On Formula One’s return to action after a four-week summer break, much had been made of the new start procedures introduced for Sunday’s race. It’s disappointing not to finish, we are not sure what the issue is but the team are investigating.

“I was never in a position where I was nervous or anything”.

As the remaining 18 cars took the start, the tension as ever reached fever pitch.

However, a sudden power failure on the 21st lap put paid to the Red Bull driver’s hopes as he was forced to retire.

Vettel, in his 150th race, was the only driver to attempt a one-strop strategy after starting from ninth – but it backfired in spectacular fashion and he finished outside of the points. “The car’s been feeling great on the circuit…” I tried to challenge him but not enough. We’re going to see. They ran a few laps longer than the other front-runners, with Rosberg eventually emerging in second place, ahead of Pérez, after his first stop.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his auto during the third free practice at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium, Saturday, August 22, 2015. “The start was really bad so I need to practice that a bit more. There’s no explanation for what happened: it’s not a puncture, the tire just exploded”. The vehicle was awesome all weekend and the crew did a great job.

“I felt good when I woke up today”. Raikkonen had been passed by Max Verstappen on the final lap, but the Dutch driver ran wide at Les Combes and handed the place back to the Finn. My start was very strong and I was close to taking the lead on lap one when I was alongside Lewis [Hamilton] after Eau Rouge. “It is an exciting time and I look forward to next week”.

The German fell from second to fifth by the first corner and while Rosberg was able to move back up to second, he was unable to pass his teammate, who now has a 22-point advantage in the drivers’ standings.

Reigning Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton cruised to a comprehensive victory in the Belgian Grand Prix Sunday to further extend his lead at the top of standings.