Lewis plays down title talk after dream win

In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes leads with 383 points followed by Ferrari with 236 and Williams with 151.

It emerged that leading racers including Hamilton, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso had expressed concern about tire reliability in Friday’s drivers’ meeting.

The American said his thoughts were only with Wilson, an extremely popular driver in the paddock who speaks on behalf of his peers regarding safety and competition.

The defending Formula One champion won his 10th pole of the season by leaving Rosberg almost half a second behind in qualifying.

In the first race for F1’s tweaked start rules – under which drivers are not allowed radio advice on the ideal clutch settings – Rosberg dropped from second to fifth on the run to the first corner at Spa.

Hamilton is now 28 points ahead his teammate after executing a ideal two-stop strategy that saw him maintain a comfortable gap to Rosberg in the second stint after the German had closed it down to 2.5 seconds after the first round of pit-stops.

His teammate, Nico Rosberg, finished second to complete the seventh Mercedes one-two this season in a far less eventful race than last year’s Belgian GP.

The path to Hamilton’s win – his sixth of the season and 39th of his career – was cleared on lap one when he staved off the challenge from a fast-starting Sergio Perez to hold the lead while Rosberg fell to fifth place as F1’s new start procedures produced the desired unpredictable results.

In his 150th race and in Ferrari’s 900th, the German driver was unable to finish and, venting his frustration, launched into a tirade littered with swear words during a series of media interviews afterwards.

Asked to explain the turnaround in the balance of power at Mercedes in qualifying this year, Rosberg added: “Some, a small part of it, l can explain because l am trying to be stronger on Sundays and it is always a bit of a compromise”.

Hamilton stopped for a change to the prime tyre on the following lap. “If that happens 200 metres earlier, I am not standing here right now”.

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean was actually fourth fastest today but will suffer a five-place grid penalty due to a gearbox change.

Lewis Hamilton was rarely troubled as he cruised to victory in today’s Belgian Grand Prix. Grosjean was making moves already as he fashioned two passes at Les Combes, one on Daniel Ricciardo and one on Perez to take third.

Williams’s Valtteri Bottas took ninth, despite a drive-through penalty for fitting a mis-matched set of tyres, with Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber taking the final point.

“I’m really happy with the auto and our performance this weekend”, he said.

“My goal was pole and Nico was close but the last two laps were the best I had all weekend”.

“I fought my way through and gave it absolutely everything – we were both on the edge the whole way through – but Lewis did a great job and deserved to win”. “I hope at some stage we will have gears or a clutch pedal!”

“It’s been a huge step for me and here the plan was to try to convert that pole position and the speed that I had in qualifying into the race”. The much vaunted new start regulations meant that all eyes were on the lights going out and who could get their cars off the line best.