Belgium – Race: Victory for Ricciardo, collision for Rosberg and Hamilton

The weather is threatening during the grid formation of the drivers: small raindrops appear in a gray sky. And shock at the start of the warm-up lap, Fernando Alonso is stuck on the grid. After a few seconds, the Ferrari staff resolves the issue by intervening on the grid, which is prohibited by the regulations: the Spaniard starts again and returns to fourth position, but is already under investigation.

At the start, Lewis Hamilton takes the lead over Nico Rosberg and is followed by Sebastian Vettel. As the German tries to gain the advantage at the end of the straight over the Englishman, the RB10 cannot take the corner properly and has to cut, allowing Nico Rosberg to regain second position. Further in the pack, Jules Bianchi suffers a puncture, likely due to contact with Romain Grosjean.

In the second round, Nico Rosberg is attacking Lewis Hamilton and after almost 2km at over 300km/h, the German’s front wing touches Lewis Hamilton’s left rear wheel, causing a puncture for his teammate! While the front wing of the world championship leader is damaged, Lewis Hamilton has to drive many kilometers on three wheels, at a slow pace: the Englishman resumes almost last, while a traffic jam forms behind Nico Rosberg, still in the lead.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is penalized with an additional 5-second stop during his next pit stop and is overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo on the track, the Spaniard now sees Valtteri Bottas in his rearview mirrors.

In the sixth lap, far from being satisfied with a podium position, Daniel Ricciardo overtakes Sebastian Vettel for second place. At Caterham, André Lotterer, standing in for Kamui Kobayashi, is already out, as is Pastor Maldonado. In the battle for points, Sergio Perez is overtaken by Felipe Massa for ninth place, and Nico Hülkenberg’s second Force India is 12th, right behind Daniil Kvyat.

After a few laps behind Fernando Alonso’s exhausts, Valtteri Bottas gets rid of the Spaniard with the help of DRS and starts to catch up to Sebastian Vettel.

On the ninth lap, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Räikkönen pit: the German takes the opportunity to change his front wing during an extremely long pit stop: 10 seconds of immobilization, and he returns on medium tires. The Finn comes out ahead of the Mercedes driver, who faces a new obstacle before him. This leaves the two Red Bull drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, leading the Belgian Grand Prix. The pit stops begin, and Felipe Massa opts for medium tires, unlike the others. Mercedes’ bad luck continues: an object resembling a piece of tire carcass got caught in the telemetry antenna of Nico Rosberg’s car, violently swaying in the driver’s field of vision.

It is then Sebastian Vettel’s turn to pit; the German comes out in 8th but quickly gets past Jean-Eric Vergne to position himself behind Kimi Räikkönen. And the race leader, Daniel Ricciardo, also pits, leaving Valtteri Bottas in the lead. But the Finn and Fernando Alonso head to the pits, with the Spaniard serving his 5-second penalty.

On the thirteenth lap, Jenson Button makes his first pit stop and gives the lead back to Daniel Ricciardo, while Kevin Magnussen and Jean-Eric Vergne battle for 6th place. Good news for Nico Rosberg, the debris in his line of sight has fallen off, and he is asked to push to get rid of Sebastian Vettel.

On the seventeenth lap, Nico Rosberg is in trouble. After an attempt to overtake Sebastian Vettel during braking at the last chicane, the Mercedes driver completely locked his tire over several dozen meters. Valtteri Bottas quickly takes advantage by gaining the upper hand after Raidillon, and finds himself behind Sebastian Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton makes his second stop and goes back out on soft tires, the Englishman comes out in 19th place. At the front, Daniel Ricciardo is 5 seconds ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, with the Finn himself 5 seconds ahead of the trio consisting of Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, and Nico Rosberg. The latter is suffering from vibrations on the front-left, the tire the German previously locked up.

On the twentieth lap, Nico Rosberg pits to switch back to medium tires, while Sebastian Vettel manages to defend against Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull’s strategic choice to run the car with significantly reduced aerodynamic downforce seems to be the right one, benefiting Daniel Ricciardo in the lead. Behind him, Kimi Räikkönen pits to fit medium tires. It’s two Red Bull drivers at the front on a circuit where they were expected to be fighting for points. Just off the podium, Kevin Magnussen holds off Fernando Alonso for fourth place, allowing Jenson Button to close in on the Spanish driver.

**On the twenty-third lap,** Sebastian Vettel goes through the pits to also put on medium tires. And Nico Rosberg starts to move up, the German overtakes Jenson Button but lets him pass again: surely an off-track overtaking. Behind these drivers, Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are making their way up. In the following laps, Jenson Button is overtaken by Nico Rosberg, Kimi Räikkönen, and Sebastian Vettel without being able to put up any real defense, while Fernando Alonso returns to the pits.

On the twenty-eighth lap, Daniel Ricciardo makes a pit stop and comes out in second place, just ahead of Nico Rosberg. The Australian is followed by Valtteri Bottas, who was the leader: the Finn emerges in 6th position. With fresher tires, the Williams driver manages to overtake Sebastian Vettel for fourth position: a battle between Finns begins, with Kimi Räikkönen in sight as well as the last podium spot.

In the thirty-fifth lap, Nico Rosberg pits and comes out in front of Valtteri Bottas, but the Finn gives him no chance and overtakes him. However, the Mercedes driver passes his opponent at the end of the lap and sets off in pursuit of second place, occupied by Kimi Räikkönen. The Ferrari driver offers no resistance, guilty of an error in the first corner affecting the speed in the Raidillon and its long straight. Sebastian Vettel also decides to put on new tires. There is a fierce battle between Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso, with the McLaren driver defending at the limit, causing the Ferrari driver’s discontent.

On the thirty-ninth lap, Nico Rosberg is closing in like a Silver Arrow on Daniel Ricciardo: at this pace, it is possible that the German could mount an attack at the end of the Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton is finally allowed to retire: the Englishman had repeatedly asked his team if it wouldn’t be better to end his race to save his engine. The battle for third place is tightening, and Valtteri Bottas manages to snatch third place from his fellow countryman of Scuderia Ferrari.

With three laps to go, the gap between Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo is 9.5 seconds as the German is three seconds per lap faster. The battle for fifth place is extremely close with four drivers: Kevin Magnussen pushes Fernando Alonso onto the grass, allowing Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel to catch up. The German takes the opportunity to overtake Jenson Button. The incident between the Dane and the Spaniard will be reviewed after the race by the stewards.

Two laps before the end, the gap between the leaders is 6 seconds. Fernando Alonso, attacking Kevin Magnussen, pushes a bit too much on the outside and makes a slight detour off the track, allowing Sebastian Vettel to overtake him.

On the last lap, Sebastian Vettel overtakes Kevin Magnussen at the first corner, while Fernando Alonso hits Vettel’s Red Bull at La Source, damaging his front wing, then makes a new mistake at Raidillon, allowing Jenson Button to pass him.

Daniel Ricciardo secures another victory at this Belgian Grand Prix to everyone’s surprise. Nico Rosberg can only manage second place ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Räikkönen, for the first time this season, finishes ahead of Fernando Alonso, with a fourth place in front of Sebastian Vettel and the McLaren drivers.