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Lewis Hamilton claimed a comprehensive win at the Belgian Grand Prix, strengthening his hold on this year’s Formula One title and recording a time of one hour 23 minutes 4.387 seconds.
>>REPORT: one hour 23 minutes 4.387 seconds
Teammate Nico Rosberg finished in second, while Romain Grosjean came in third.
After another pause in proceedings, Formula One is back this weekend for the Belgium Grand Prix. Join The Roar from 9:30pm (AEST) for the full race build-up, before we plunge into the second half of this championship.
44 laps will be contested around this magnificent 7km circuit, which weaves and undulates through the lush green of the Ardennes.
The high-speed nature of the circuit places great emphasis on power delivery from the cars, especially on the Kemmel straight. 70 per cent of the lap is spent on full throttle.
Reigning constructors’ champions Mercedes AMG should be favourites, considering their power-unit is still the benchmark, however the teams and drivers enter the race with the new start procedures having come into effect. This means that, unlike prior races, drivers are not allowed to adjust or procure engineering assistance as to the optimum clutch bite-point setting. From now on, the bite-point will be set manually prior to leaving the garage on race-day.
With this in mind, can Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg get away cleanly? With a deficit of 21 points, Rosberg will hope to avoid carnage like last year, which saw his future on-track battles with Hamilton fade to the point of non-existence.
Ferrari, who had a strong start off the line in Hungary, will look to steal more momentum from the Silver Arrows. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen are the only drivers on the current grid to have won multiple times in Belgium – the Finn being the king with a total of four wins.
The high-speed layout should benefit Williams too, after their disastrous outing in Hungary, where no points were awarded to either car. Considering Ferrari has won two races already this season, catching them for second in the constructors ‘championship maybe a tall order.
He may not have a chance of defending his Spa-Francorchamps crown from last year, but Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull will certainly target points as they aim to nullify Force India’s hopes for fourth in the standings.
Penalties could be on the horizon for McLaren, as an upgraded Honda unit is set to debut, adding a reported 40bhp to the MP4-30.
The Roar will be live-blogging the entire event, join us from 9:30pm and have your say in the comments below.
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