Formula One: Hamilton beats Rosberg to Belgian prize

Hamilton is looking to increase his 21-point lead over Rosberg in the drivers standings and take his sixth victory of the season.

“An wonderful weekend, ” Hamilton said.

“The vehicle was feeling really good – I started with more front end than Nico – and in the middle stint I took it easy for the first few laps out”.

“I didnt make big mistakes, maybe I slowed down a bit at the end. The race also brought his 80th podium, equalling Ayrton Senna’s tally. It was the seventh 1-2 finish for Mercedes this season.

“I completely messed up the start, which was very annoying”, said Rosberg.

“We don’t really understand it, for sure it’s worrying”, the German said. “But Lewis did a great job and deserved to win”. I lost power going into the chicane, everything switched off, including the dash.

The next race is the Italian Grand Prix, to be held at Monza on the 5th of September, and it is thought this may be the last race at that venue. I had great pace in the auto and the balance felt fantastic. He even closed in on Hamilton two-thirds of the way through the race before the defending world champion stretched the gap.

Mercedes’ other driver Nico Rosberg wasn’t far off the pace of his teammate, with the German having put in a 1:47.655 lap time in Q3 to secure the remaining spot on the front row.

“Next vehicle!” he shouted over team radio as he passed Perez. Unfortunately for Ferrari, and for Vettel’s already slim hopes of catching Hamilton in the championship (the Ferrari has only occasionally been a match for Hamilton and his Mercedes), his right-rear tire gave up with just over two laps to go.

Webber was capable of beating Vettel in a straight fight, and often did, but he could never do it consistently and that was why Vettel won 38 races to Webber’s nine in their five years together.

It was Grosjean’s first podium of the season for the troubled Lotus team, which is facing severe financial problems off the track, and his first podium since the 2013 US Grand Prix.

After another pause in proceedings, Formula One is back this weekend for the Belgium Grand Prix. Not everyone in Formula One is a genius after all. The third place was a boost for financially-troubled Lotus, whose cars were set to be impounded after the race in a legal dispute with former reserve Charles Pic.

Hamilton reacted by showing how comfortable he was with his set-up and the circuit by banging in several storming laps, one a full seven-tenths quicker than his team-mate and had extended his lead to five seconds by lap 27.

The start was initially aborted when Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg encountered mechanical gremlins on the grid, waving his hands to signal he would be unable to get away. Also in the points were Max Verstappen in a Toro Rosso, Valtteri Bottas in a Williams and Marcus Ericsson in a Sauber.

Bottas’ race went from bad to worse at his first pit stop after his team fitted one medium tyre and three softs.