Hamilton dominates Spaposted in F123 | 08 | 2015
LEWIS HAMILTON DOMINATED the Belgian Grand Prix, leading comfortably from start to finish to beat this Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg into second.
The win — his sixth of the season — sees Hamilton (pictured) extend his championship lead to 28 points ahead of the German, who bogged down at the start and dropped to fifth before fighting back through he field to finish second.
Hamilton admitted afterwards that he never felt under too much pressure from Rosberg even though his team-mate gained towards the end of the 43-lap race.
"It was really just about utilising the tyres and not having to push on the out-laps," the defending world champ explained.
"I took it quite easy on three or four laps in areas when Nico could be closing, then I started pushing. I was never in a position when I was nervous."
Rosberg though was annoyed with himself for "messing up" the start.
"I completely messed up the start, which was very annoying," sthe German said. "The start was really bad, so I need to practice that a bit more.
"When I had clear air in the front, I chased Lewis. I was always coming close, apart from one phase in the second stint when he pulled away. I tried to hunt Lewis down but it wasn't enough."
There was disappointment too from an angry Sebastian Vettel who had looked on course for the final step of the podium. But, as he and his Ferrari team attempted a one-stop strategy that required a 29-lap stint on the mediums, his right-rear tyre exploded with a few laps to go ending his race.
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Immediately afterwards, the four-time world champ attacked Pirelli's performance "unacceptable".
"Things like that are not allowed to happen," a clearly furious Vettel, who said he could have been badly injured had the tyre blown at Eau Rouge, stated.
"If it happened 200 metres earlier, I'm not standing here now, I'd be stuck in Eau Rouge. I don't know what else needs to happen.
"I tell you what's upsetting. What's upsetting for one thing is the result. We deserved to finish on the podium. The other thing, like I said, if this happens earlier...
"Tyres are a theme that keeps coming around, that nobody is mentioning, but is unacceptable."
The blowout allowed Romain Grosjean to delved Lotus its first podium of the season, at a time when the team faces an uncertain future and legal battles.
Red Bull ran its Monza-spec at Spa, which allowed Daniil Kvyat to eventually finish fourth. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo tough was forced to retire again with engine problems.
With the Force India of Sergio Perez securing his best result of the season with fifth, Williams's Felipe Massa and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished sixth and seventh respectively,
The top 10 was rounded out by the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen, followed by the Williams Valtteri Bottas and Marcus Ericsson's Sauber.
Afterwards, Williams was forced to apologise to to Bottas after the team embarrassingly fitted a medium tyre to the right-rear wheel among a set of softs. The Finn was forced to serve a drive-through penalty, costing him a potential fourth place.
"There are two things we should do," Williams's head of vehicle performance, Rob Smedley, said. "The first is apologise to Valtteri because obviously we absolutely ruined his race as he was there with Sebastian (Vettel) and (Romain) Grosjean before that happened.
"Secondly, what we shouldn't do is blame individuals. We need to go away as a group of people and look at what happened."
F1: Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps — Result:
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 43 laps 1hr 23m 40.387s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +02.058s
3. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes +37.988s
4. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault +45.692s
5. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +53.997s
6. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +55.283s
7. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +55.703s
8. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault +56.076s
9. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +1m 01.040s
10. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1m 31.234s
11. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1m 42.311s
12. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +1 lap (DNF)
13. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1 lap
14. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap
15. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari +1 lap
Retired:
Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 33 laps completed
Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault 19 laps completed hydraulics
Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 1 lap completed engine
Did Not Start:
Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes
Fastest lap:
Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 52.416s lap 34
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Jim McGill