Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish to win the Belgian Grand Prix and extend his world championship lead, with his closest rival and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg finishing second.
Hamilton made a good getaway despite fears over the new clutch system expected to cause a troublesome start for the drivers. However, that certainly happened to Rosberg, who plummeted to sixth by the first corner and left him with a lot of early work to do.
Lotus's Romain Grosjean was one of those who made a good start, and the Frenchman capitalised on a late puncture suffered by Sebastian Vettel to take a fantastic third-place finish.
Belgian Grand Prix 2015 - in pictures
The start only saw 18 drivers take the green light after Nico Hulkenberg's Force India cut out on the start. The German was wheeled into the pits to retire, and he was quickly joined by Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz - although he was able to rejoin the race before retiring on lap 35.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo looked well placed to challenge for the podium, only for his car to suddenly cut out at the Bus Stop Chicane and trigger a virtual safety car that saw Rosberg narrow the gap. Hamilton remained unflustered though, and went on to take his fifth victory of the season.
With Rosberg slow off the start, Sergio Perez capitalised and jumped up to second, closely followed by Ricciardo and Valterri Bottas. Rosberg briefly fell behind Vettel though he was able to get back in front and hold fifth before the apex for Eau Rouge. Hamilton had to hold off a charging Perez, though once he negotiated the first five corners he was in a race of his own and was rarely challenged for the entrire race.
An early overtake by Max Verstappen proved to be the highlight of the race, with the plucky young Dutchman taking to the outside of Blanchimont to pass Sauber's Marcus Ericsson at near-190mph t take 11th. Further back, the McLarens both made strong starts, but would ultimately miss out on points with Fernando Alonso finishing 13th and Jenson Button one place behind.
Lewis Hamilton wins the Belgium Grand Prix
By the time the first pit stops cycled through, Rosberg was up to second and a battle for third was developing for third place between Perez, Grosjean, Vettel and Ricciardo. Bottas had been taken out of the picture after a howler of a first stop, where Williams put on three option tyres and one prime to leave him with a drive-through penalty.
Perez eventually fell away, but with a handful of laps remaining Grosjean was catching Vettel quickly and looked to have an outside chance of third. That chance became reality when, after a 27-lap stint, Vettel's right-rear tyre gave in and completely delaminated on the crest of Eau Rouge, leaving Grosjean to go on and secure a welcome rostrum finish.
But out in front there was no stopping Hamilton, and the two-time world champion crossed the line to take the 39th victory of his career and sit just two wins shy of his childhood hero, Ayrton Senna. Rosberg came home two-second behind his team-mate, with the championship lead now extended to 28 points in Hamilton's favour.
Final positions after Race (43 Laps):
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1hr 23mins 40.387secs,
2 Nico Rosberg(Ger)Mercedes GP 1:23:42.445,
3 Romain Grosjean(Fra)Lotus F1 Team 1:24:18.375,
4 Daniil Kvyat(Rus)Red Bull 1:24:26.079,
5 Sergio Perez(Mex)Force India 1:24:34.384,
6 Felipe Massa(Bra)Williams 1:24:35.670,
7 Kimi Raikkonen(Fin)Ferrari 1:24:36.090,
8 Max Verstappen(Ned)Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24:36.463,
9 Valtteri Bottas(Fin)Williams 1:24:41.427,
10 Marcus Ericsson(Swe)Sauber-Ferrari 1:25:11.621,
11 Felipe Nasr(Bra)Sauber-Ferrari 1:25:22.698,
12 Sebastian Vettel(Ger)Ferrari at 1 Lap,
13 Fernando Alonso(Spa)McLaren at 1 Lap,
14 Jenson Button(Gbr)McLaren at 1 Lap,
15 Roberto Merhi(Spa)Manor Marussia F1 at 1 Lap,
16 Will Stevens(Gbr)Manor Marussia F1 at 1 Lap
Not Classified:
17 Carlos Sainz(Spa)Scuderia Toro Rosso 32 Laps completed,
18 Daniel Ricciardo(Aus)Red Bull 19 Laps completed,
19 Pastor Maldonado(Ven)Lotus F1 Team 1 Laps completed,
20 Nico Hulkenberg(Ger)Force India 0 Laps completed
More to follow...
