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.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Thank you though for tuning into this this live blog for the Belgian Grand Prix. It was a pleasure to cover the race for The Roar and there will be plenty of analysis this week from the experts here so stay tuned! Thanks and good night.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Who was your driver of the day? It seemed that the new start procedure didn't affect Hamilton too much, so he does seem to firmly have one hand on the 2015 title.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Hamilton does extend his championship lead over Rosberg, whilst takes a huge blow in the standings with that non-points finish.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVERS' -------- 227 - Lewis Hamilton 199 - Nico Rosberg 160 - Sebastian Vettel 82 -- Kimi Räikkönen 82 -- Felipe Massa 79 -- Valtteri Bottas 57 -- Daniil Kvyat 51 -- Daniel Ricciardo 38 -- Romain Grosjean 26 -- Max Verstappen 25 -- Sergio Perez 24 -- Nico Hulkenberg 16 -- Felipe Nasr 12 -- Pastor Maldonado 11 -- Fernando Alonso 9 --- Carlos Sainz 6 --- Jenson Button 6 --- Marcus Ericsson 0 --- Roberto Merhi 0 --- Will Stevens
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTORS' ----- 426 - Mercedes AMG 242 - Scuderia Ferrari 161 - Williams Mercedes 108 - Red Bull Racing 50 -- Lotus Mercedes 49 -- Force India Mercedes 35 -- Scuderia Toro Rosso 23 -- Sauber Ferrari 17 -- McLaren Honda 0 --- Manor Ferrari
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Driver of the day must certainly be Romain Grosjean for finishing in third despite starting from P9 after his gearbox penalty. Great result for the Enstone team as a whole, who have faced many hardships in the past year and a half.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
HAMILTON - "The whole weekend the car was fantastic." "Nico closed the gap, but I answered it well." ROSBERG - "I completely messed up the start... Lewis made a better start." GROSJEAN - "I still can't believe I'm on the podium after yesterday's penalty."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
David Coulthard conducts the podium interviews.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Grosjean having a deserved chug of champagne, but it is Hamilton who retains his championship lead over Rosberg.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Here are the classification of results from the 43 laps of the Belgian Grand Prix: 1 L. Hamilton 2 N. Rosberg 3 R. Grosjean 4 D. Kvyat 5 S. Perez 6 F. Massa 7 K. Räikkönen 8 M. Verstappen 9 V. Bottas 10 M. Ericsson 11 F. Nasr 12 S. Vettel 13 F. Alonso 14 J. Button 15 R. Merhi 16 W. Stevens RET C. Sainz RET D. Ricciardo RET P. Maldonado RET N. Hulkenberg
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
But it is LEWIS HAMILTON who crosses the line to claim his sixth win of the season! Nico Rosberg completes the Mercedes AMG 1-2 with second. But ROMAIN GROSJEAN takes his first podium since the United States GP in 2013! What a result for the Enstone team.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 43/43: Verstappen challenging seventh against Räikkönen into Les Combes, but the Finn prevails.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 42/43: VETTEL'S TYRE HAS JUST BLOWN UP! He is conceding places like mad now at the moment and the gamble to stay out on his medium tyres for 20+ plus laps has cost him.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 41/43: Grosjean is 0.6 behind Vettel for third with the benefit of DRS but there is still no overtake. Kvyat passes Perez for fifth.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 40/43: Kvyat overtakes Massa for P6 into Les Combes, Great move for the sole Red Bull runner.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 39/43: Grosjean told to use maximum power against Vettel for third as the Frenchman is under a second within him. With four laps to go, this is currently the hotly contested position at the moment.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 37/43: Kvyat rounds up Räikkönen for P7 down the Kemmel Straight.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 36/43: HAM ROS VET GRO PER MAS RÄI KVY BOT VES currently make up the top ten.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 35/43: Sainz enters the pits and it set to retire from the race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 33/43: Alonso's engineer again reports that rain is about 14km away from the circuit.