Hamilton wins Driver of the Day award for first time

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Lewis Hamilton has won the Driver of the Day award for the first time for his recovery in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The championship leader took three separate power unit penalties during the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, resulting in a grid drop of 55 places and leaving him starting from 21st on the grid. In a chaotic race, Hamilton rose up to fifth place by a safety car period on lap six, and a red flag then allowed him to change tyres without losing position.

DRIVER RATINGS: Belgian Grand Prix

From fifth at the race restart, Hamilton moved up to third behind race-winner Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo, limiting the loss of points to his team-mate to ten.

The performance earned Hamilton the Driver of the Day award, which is voted for by fans on the official F1 website. It marks the first time Hamilton has won the award despite six victories so far this season.

It was a close battle between him and ALO, but...

You voted @LewisHamilton as your #F1DriverOfTheDay in Belgium

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.