Right, that’s it from me. Thanks a lot for your company, that was a brilliant racing spectacle wasn’t it? Giles Richards’s race report from Spa will appear right here shortly, so you can get your teeth into that soon. Have a good day. Bye!
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Sebastian Vettel has a microphone in his hand. “It was good fun,” he says. “We have made good steps forward and I am looking forward to next week, our home race [the Italian Grand Prix].” As for Daniel Ricciardo, he says “thanks for hanging around” after referencing Max Verstappen’s early retirement, in front of a very Dutch-heavy crowd in Spa. Hamilton adds: “There are many kids here, and probably adults, that dream of what we are doing today. Hopefully this shows that dreams do come true, keep striving for excellence and never give up.” And, is that a tear in your eye?
The celebrations in Spa are well under way, with Hamilton, Vettel and Ricciardo soaked in champagne. On the podium, Hamilton speaks. “It has been a strong weekend for myself and the team, I am really grateful for all of their hard work,” he says. “Sebastian put up a great fight but this is what I said I was going to do and I did it.”
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Race result!
1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Ricciardo
4 Raikkonen
5 Bottas
6 Hulkenberg
7 Grosjean
8 Massa
9 Ocon
10 Sainz
So, just like that, Hamilton takes his 58th career race win. A perfect afternoon for the Mercedes driver, who bolts up out of his car and clenches his fist. He duly high-fives and hugs a couple of the Mercedes team.
Lewis Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix!
The Mercedes driver has cut Vettel’s lead to seven points at the top of the drivers’ championship, with the Ferrari forced to settle for second place, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who ensures Red Bull get a spot on the podium. Hamilton got over the line 2.3secs ahead of Vettel in the end.
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Lap 44/44: Hamilton has stretched his lead to 1.7secs. He can almost taste his third win in Spa ...
Lap 43/44: Will Hamilton and Mercedes hang on here?
Lap 42/44: And Sergio Perez is informed that his Force India car will be retired this afternoon. He is the fourth driver to see his race end prematurely this afternoon.
Lap 41/44: “Leave me to it, Bono,” Hamilton says down the team radio, after being given a minor update on the temperature of his tyres. He doesn’t want to know about it at the moment, ahead of an inevitably tense finish in Spa.
Lap 40/44: Hamilton and Vettel are still flat out at it. Will either of them concede an inch or two of ground from here on in?
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Lap 39/44: Hamilton seems to be feeling the pressure from Vettel, who remains on his tail, well about 1.2secs behind the Mercedes. Down the team radio, Hamilton seems to panicking about Vettel gaining on him through a couple of sectors. We are going to be in for a pulsating finish.
Lap 38/44: “Rear temperatures are coming up,” Hamilton tells his team down the radio. Mercedes seem pretty relaxed about it all. As it stands, Hamilton would close the gap at the top of the drivers’ championship to seven points. There are six laps to go in Spa ...
Lap 37/44: Christian Horner, the Red Bull honcho, has been talking. “The safety car bunched the field up nicely and we managed to get the jump on Bottas there,” he says, before confirming that Verstappen retired with yet another engine failure. As for the battle up front between Hamilton and Vettel, he adds “maybe there will be another opportunity for the Ferrari to trump the Mercedes before this race is out.
Lap 36/44: Hamilton has opened the gap up to 1.2secs, despite that big challenge from Vettel. A priceless lap and few seconds for Mercedes, who still lead here. Hamilton’s soft tyres paid dividends down the straight, as he held off Vettel. His Mercedes team-mate, Bottas, though was relegated to fifth after getting caught up in all that drama.
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Lap 35/44: Amid all of that drama, Magnussen flew off the track and lost a considerable amount of ground, and he is now at the back of the grid. Interestingly, no further action will be taken against Perez or Ocon after that earlier incident. Ocon is ninth, while Perez is down in 12th, for now at least.
Lap 34/44: As the safety car gets out the way, Vettel moves to the outside of Hamilton in a bid to overtake but he cannot budge the Mercedes. While Hamilton fends off Vettel, who was toying with the Mercedes down the straight, Ricciardo jumps in front of Bottas to climb up to third. Raikkonen, meanwhile, is into fourth. His Ferrari team look delighted back at the paddock.
Lap 34/44: “Why is the safety car driving so slow, I cannot keep the temperatures [up],” Hamilton moans down the team radio. He is told to “do what you can do” but that will not ease any pains for Hamilton at the moment. Meanwhile, confirmation that race control are investigating the incident between Perez and Ocon.
Lap 33/44: “Why have they got the safety car out?” asks Hamilton. Because there were a fair few chunks of debris out there, Lewis. Of Perez and Ocon’s clash, former F1 driver Mark Webber says the pair need “stronger management”. Three drivers have already retired from this race, and there was almost a couple more joining Alonso, Wehrlein and Verstappen down in the paddock.
Lap 32/44: “What the fuck is this guy doing? My front wing is broken now,” Ocon says of Perez’s antics. It takes two to tango, but Perez seemed to instigate that clash, which left both cars with aesthetic damage at least, assuming there was nothing more serious.
Lap 31/44: Everybody is piling into the pits. Grosjean is next to come in, with Ocon surely about to get a new front wing. Ferrari are waiting to receive Vettel, while Perez trudges into the pits. His rear suspension will make interesting reading ... now here comes Hamilton, too. Perez is away, though, without too much fuss. Force India must be happy enough with his car.
Lap 30/44: This is crazy. Perez now looks to have a punctured tyre, and there is some debris out on track. Ocon has damage to his front wing, but he’s still whizzing around Spa. And, unsurprisingly, we have a safety car out on track. In the meantime, in comes Raikkonen to pit, shifting to the ultrasofts, and he is unlikely to be the last to do so.
Lap 29/44: Perez v Ocon, round two: the two Force India’s are back at it again after both flew out of the pits, jostling for 10th, with Massa ahead of them in ninth. Their battle seems to be the driving equivalent of handbags. “Why did you pit him before?” Ocon asks of Perez. They are at each other’s throats again, and they have clashed again ...
Lap 28/44: Palmer earlier said that Alonso forced him off the track. Perhaps that was partly behind the Spaniard’s premature race retirement. Who knows? Alonso is already talking to some TV broadcasters besides the paddock. Well, his race is over ...
Lap 27/44: Hamilton still leads Vettel, with the Mercedes now back in the driving seat, after stretching the gap to the Ferrari to nearer 2secs. He is easing way but for how long will it stay that way? In third remains Bottas, just ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen’s still in fifth.
Lap 26/44: Alonso is out of the race, he’s retired and it’s another non-finish for him in what has been a hugely disappointing season. He has not enjoyed it out there today.
Lap 25/44: Raikkonen has Hulkenberg in his sights, and the Ferrari flies past, using the superior pace of his car and the DRS to soar back up into fifth. Ricciardo may well have to stop again yet, so it is not impossible for Raikkonen to regain fourth, where he started on the grid, or even beyond. It is all to play for, as such.
Lap 24/44: Vettel has just shaved a half-second off Hamilton during the middle sector, and he is gaining on the Mercedes. Hamilton just does not look as comfortable out there at present.
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Lap 23/44: Ricciardo seems pretty comfortable on the ultrasoft tyres out there, while Hamilton, the race leader, and Vettel both remain on the softs. The Ferrari, though, just looks a little more natural out on track at the moment. A slow-mo of Hamilton through the last chicane shows lots of see-sawing movement from his car.
Lap 22/44: Mercedes tell Hamilton to keep his track position. “I am trying to,” he responds. Vettel will be quietly confident that he can still trump Hamilton this afternoon, though, with Hamilton not having it all his own way. Might Mercedes have to make another stop? We’re at the halfway stage, and everything is spicing up nicely.
Lap 21/44: Hamilton is slowly pulling away from Vettel, after increasing the gap to the Ferrari to around 1.2secs. As it stands, Hamilton leads Vettel, who remains in second ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third. Ricciardo is fourth, with Hulkenberg in fifth.
Lap 20/44: Raikkonen is up into sixth after leaving Ocon for dead. “This car feels really nice,” he says. Fernando Alonso the pressure-cooker is once again fuming about something, but he is ever the pragmatist. “I have no protection now he says. Anyway, it does not change my life.”
FASTEST LAPS (Lap 20/44): 👀 Look how tight it is between the @MercedesAMGF1 drivers #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/0vuyq2FNZ9
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 27, 2017
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Lap 19/44: Raikkonen has now reappeared in seventh place. For now Hulkenberg has jumped up into fifth, where he now trails Daniel Ricciardo. Grosjean is back on the team radio, having a moan about being beaten up out on the track by Perez.
Lap 18/44: Raikkonen is in the pits, doubtless just sitting there stewing and puffing out his cheeks. He feels pretty hard done by.
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Lap 17/44: Hamilton seems to be struggling for grip a little out there, with Vettel seizing some sizeable ground on the Mercedes. Hamilton looks to be coming very wide on the corners and he has lost 1sec to the Ferrari over the past lap. “What do you mean?” Raikkonen asks, when told he has been slapped with a 10-second penalty.
Lap 16/44: “He [Perez] has to give me the position back,” says Grosjean. He’s not a happy bunny about that. Talking of penalties, Raikkonen has a 10-second stop-and-go, which is pretty damning to his chances this afternoon. Alonso, meanwhile, just wants to be left alone. “No more radio for the rest of this race,” he shouts. Lovely ...
Lap 15/44: Mercedes can certainly count themselves as victorious from that set of pit-stops. Hamilton was flying at 198mph as he bypassed Raikkonen there, with both cars stupendously close to each other. The Finn has now pitted, although it is a little sluggish. Perez is now under investigation for that earlier incident, when he seemed to gain an advantage for going rather wayward and off the track.
Lap 14/44: Vettel pits, with Raikkonen momentarily in the lead before Hamilton storms past him, with a little helping hand from DRS. Perez gets lucky, after flying very wide after trying to overtake Grosjean. Perhaps he will give back that position in a bid to avoid a telling off. Raikkonen, meanwhile, can expect a penalty for failing to slow under the yellow flag.
Lap 13/44: What a stop that is by Hamilton. A lightning quick 2.3secs pit, with Hamilton returning to the track in fourth. A fine pit-stop by Mercedes, and they will surely be patting themselves on the back for that. Hamilton is fourth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. For now, Vettel leads Bottas, who is just ahead of Raikkonen.
Lap 12/44: Hamilton and Bottas have reported some blistering on their tyres, but Vettel, smugly, says he is feeling dandy out there on track at the moment. Meanwhile, in the pits, Hulkenberg flies in and Massa has also stopped. The Williams was very quick too, with a nippy 2.5secs pit time.
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Lap 11/44: Ocon pits and he goes on to a pair of supersoft tyres. Also in is Alonso, and Romain Grosjean. Verstappen, via a motorbike, is safely back in the paddock. He joins Wehrlein in finishing his afternoon early.
Lap 10/44: That is a sixth race retirement for Verstappen, which means he has not finished half of this season’s races. He was understandably livid at the car for packing up on him – again – this afternoon. Now Magnussen, who is way down in 15th, is fuming down the team radio. It has been a lively start in Spa.
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Lap 9/44: Is that another engine failure for Verstappen? He has jumped out of the Red Bull, and there are quite a few glum faces back in the pits.
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Lap 8/44: Max Verstappen is in trouble, he has a mechanical issue. His car is juddering down the hill, he seems to have lost power ... he’s come to halt in front of tens of thousands of his supporters. A shake of the head from the Red Bull driver tells you all you need to know. “I can’t believe this, unbelievable,” he says.
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Lap 7/44: “Looking at Alonso is like watching Messi playing for a really bad pub team,” says John McEnerney via Twitter. “Time for Fernando to look elsewhere in motor sport.” Jolyon Palmer, meanwhile, says he is “struggling for rear grip, a lot”. Hmm, that’s not good news. The Brit has just been bypassed by Felipe Massa.
Lap 6/44: That was a naughty clash there by Ocon, slamming into the back of Perez’s Force India, who knew very little about that from his team-mate, who sped down the outside, close to the barriers near Eau Rouge. “Embarrassing, really embarrassing,” Alonso says, despite regaining some ground on Perez.
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Lap 5/44: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap, and he will be hoping to establish a little more breathing space between he and Vettel. Meanwhile, Ocon, who has been battling away for the first few laps finally bypasses Alonso. The Spaniard has dropped two positions to ninth.
Lap 4/44: Pascal Wehrlein, who started on the soft tyres, has retired after reporting a problem down the team radio. He said something had broken, although it is unclear what. Hamilton leads Vettel out in front.
LAP 3/44: Race over for @PWehrlein 👎#BelgiumGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/yoClMzGfiV
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 27, 2017
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Lap 3/44: “For the moment we can go with him, no problem,” Vettel says of his pursuit of Hamilton. That sounds promising for Ferrari. Meanwhile, Perez is trying to bypass Magnussen while Ocon is still battling away with Alonso. Ericsson is the back marker.
Lap 2/44: Romain Grosjean is bemoaning some early debris. Alonso is in seventh, Hulkenberg in eighth and Ocon in ninth. Hamilton still leads by just over a second, with Vettel trailing the Mercedes in second.
Lap 1/44: Hulkenberg attacks Alonso, and he nips in around the side of the Spaniard. A lovely little move. Palmer is indeed still in 13th – that was just a glitch in the computing. Ocon now tries to vie with Hulkenberg and Alonso in a three-pronged spear but the latter holds on.
Lights out!
After the formation lap is concluded without any bother, from the race off, the front four make a fine start by holding onto their positions. Ricciardo gets an early run on Vettel, while Verstappen clings onto fifth. Fernando Alonso, as ever, is the big mover, by leaping into seventh. Joylon Palmer has dropped to the back but it’s unclear quite why he has plummeted down the order.
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So, this is Lewis Hamilton’s 200th consecutive race start today. Can he convert his pole into victory number 58? History bodes well, with seven of the last 15 races at Spa won from pole. Lights out is imminent.
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Felipe Massa talks after a difficult few days for Williams, with the Brazilian starting down in 16th this afternoon. “I feel OK, there is a lot less pain on my neck than we had yesterday,” he said. “I really hope we can have a great race because we are not starting in a great position.”
Here comes the Belgian national anthem ...
The pit lane has been open for a short time, and the usual frolics are already taking place on the grid – David Coulthard is interrupting other broadcasters interviews etc, except there is no rain this weekend. Toto Wolff reckons “the sun will be a factor” this afternoon, noting the track is “heating up” when the sun’s out in Spa. Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen seems to still be having a few vibration issues with his Ferrari. Lights out will be upon us in just 20 minutes.
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Sebastian Vettel will start from second on the grid, behind Lewis Hamilton, and asked whether there was ever any doubt he would not renew his contract with Ferrari, his answer was, er, revealing. After a painful, agonising long pause, the German says “honestly I did not think about it much”. More on that deal here:
Mick Schumacher has been speaking after an emotional couple of commemorative laps. He got up out of the Benetton, to thank the crowd and soak up the applause coming back at him in the process.
The grid!
1 Hamilton 2 Vettel
3 Bottas 4 Raikkonen
5 Verstappen 6 Ricciardo
7 Hulkenberg 8 Perez
9 Ocon 10 Alonso
11 Grosjean 12 Magnussen
13 Sainz 14 Stroll
15 Palmer 16 Massa
17 Ericsson 18 Wehrlein
19 Kvyat 20 Vandoorne
Preamble
If Saturday was a good day for Lewis Hamilton, then he will be hoping Sunday can round off what would surely prove the perfect weekend. Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 Formula 1 pole positions in Spa, amid a stunning backdrop of the Ardennes mountain range, beating Sebastian Vettel’s qualifying lap by 0.242secs. After the numbers had been crunched as such, Ross Brawn read a message on behalf of Schumacher’s family. “His wife Corinna said that Michael always believes records were there to be broken, and they want to offer their congratulations.”
It was a special day for Hamilton but even more fitting is the sight of Schumacher’s son, Mick, whizzing around Spa on the 25th anniversary of his dad’s first win there. The 18-year-old will drive a 1994-spec Benetton to commemorate his father’s first win, all the way back in 1992. Mick has previously raced on the track in Formula 3, in which he is currently 11th in the European Championship, having moved up from Formula 4 this season. “There was not the slightest bit of doubt for me that I wanted to do this,” said Schumacher, who is wearing an especially designed helmet, half of which is his and the other half his father’s, for the two demonstration laps.
Like yesterday, there will of course again be a huge swell of support for Max Verstappen across Spa, with tens of thousands of fans expected to be draped in orange this afternoon, while Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will hope to trump him on the track. “I’m born in Belgium and with so many Dutch fans here it’s incredible,” Verstappen said. The grid and more news will be on the way shortly.
Lights out: 1pm BST
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