Categories: FeatureFeatures

Belgian Grand Prix review

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Following Lewis Hamilton's dominant victory in a race weekend overshadowed by criticism of Pirelli, F1i looks back at how the Belgian Grand Prix unfolded and opens itself up to future ridicule by checking just how accurate its podium prediction was…

The race in 100 words

For the third race in a row, at least one Mercedes made a poor start but it was Nico Rosberg who slipped back as Lewis Hamilton withstood pressure from Sergio Perez to lead in to Les Combes. From there, Hamilton was comfortable, while Rosberg quickly fought back to second at the first round of pit stops. Sebastian Vettel was set to one-stop his way to third before his tyre failed on the penultimate lap, promoting the impressive Romain Grosjean (who had been catching the Ferrari anyway). Williams made a bizarre pit stop error and McLaren was just very slow.

Driver of the weekend

For once not a Mercedes or Ferrari driver; Romain Grosjean deserves the plaudits for an excellent drive. The Frenchman admits he still thinks back to the start crash he caused in 2012 whenever he comes to Spa - an incident which earned him a race ban - but he was pretty much faultless this weekend. Having missed FP1, Grosjean was immediately quick in FP2 and then excellently qualified in fourth place. A grid penalty demoted him to ninth but Grosjean had the pace to work his way back up to fourth and was putting pressure on Vettel when the Ferrari’s right rear tyre failed.

Move of the race

While a lot of overtaking took place using DRS in to Les Combes, Max Verstappen opted to set up his move on Felipe Nasr in a much more spectacular manner. Verstappen got a run on Nasr exiting the Paul Frere corner and was forced to the outside as the pair approached Blanchimont, but kept his foot in despite running slightly wide as Nasr gave just enough room at extremely high speed. The whole move left Verstappen on the inside approaching the final chicane, allowing him to outbrake the Sauber. Thrilling stuff.

Prediction accuracy

Podium: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Romain Grosjean

F1i’s pre-race prediction: 1. Nico Rosberg, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Valtteri Bottas

Weekend recap

Friday

Rosberg fastest despite dramatic tyre failure in FP2

Gallery

Saturday

Dominant Hamilton secures pole as Vettel struggles

Gallery

Sunday

Hamilton beats Rosberg at Spa to extend lead

Gallery

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.