There will be no bitter taste for Nico Rosberg after his victory at the Belgian Grand Prix. It is the German’s first win at Spa-Francorchamps, something every driver wants on his CV after all, but he may, when the glow dies down, wonder just how he did not leave the Ardennes with a fistful more points than his title rival and team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, having started 20 places in front of him.
Hamilton has not only had the German under the cosh for the past four races on the trot but here everything that could fall for the three-times world champion lined up to usher him into third place, cutting the Englishman’s lead in the drivers’ championship by only 10 points.
Not that Hamilton did not deserve the place. In Hungary he finally overturned the 43-point advantage that Rosberg had held after the Russian Grand Prix and by the last round in Germany made it 19 in his favour with some exceptional races, form which was continued here. Starting from the back row after taking penalties for replacement engines, he had feared pre‑race that making the top 10 would prove difficult and the team had predicted eighth, while there was always the chance of an early exit while battling through traffic. A superb recovery drive ensued, minimising the damage to his world championship ambitions, after a spirited run to finish behind the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who was second.
It was Rosberg’s sixth win of the season, the first since the European Grand Prix in Baku, ending the run of victories that put Hamilton on top. The German driver did exactly what was needed with aplomb; he too was under pressure since he knew he had to win to claw back points from Hamilton and that such an opportunity might not occur again. Victory was required and he delivered from pole albeit with no real opposition, working his tyres well in conditions where the Mercedes was very tough on its rubber.
He admitted, however, that he had not expected his team-mate to be so close when he saw the result after the race. “I saw Lewis was in p-three,” he said. “I was surprised, seriously? I thought.” He added: “ He did a great job to come all the way through.”
Hamilton, in turn, was favoured by incidents on track, the use of the safety car and the race being red-flagged but was also controlled and skilful in passing and staying out of trouble.
He had started from the last row with a 55-place penalty for taking three new engines this weekend, a penalty compounded to an even greater level of meaninglessness with a further five places deducted when the team broke a seal on the car under parc fermé conditions before the race, in order to be able to change the gearbox at the next round in Monza.
The engine penalties he incurred have already cost him once this season, with mechanical failures forcing recovery drives when he started 22nd in China and fought back to seventh and a second from tenth in Russia. But this comeback ranks easily alongside his previous best: when he took his McLaren from 24th on the grid to eighth in Barcelona – without the advantage his current Mercedes enjoys – and after a fire during qualifying at Hungary in 2014 forced a pit lane start, followed by a brave, considered and determined drive to claim third place. This will feel like a bigger result than both, especially given that he now has a stock of power units for the rest of the season.
Rosberg was untroubled at the front but behind him the incidents were thick and fast and Hamilton was making the most of them. Max Verstappen, who enjoyed a race as action-packed and controversial as Rosberg’s was serene, dived up the inside at La Source off the grid and with no space squeezed up against the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and in a thrice three of Hamilton’s main rivals had put themselves out of the equation. A good start had also helped and by the end of lap two, when the right rear tyre of Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso burst, Hamilton was already up to 13th.
Shortly afterwards Kevin Magnussen in the Renault suffered a huge, high-speed accident going almost straight into the barriers at the top of Eau Rouge. The driver emerged with only a left-ankle injury but it caused the safety car to be deployed and Hamilton, on harder rubber, stayed out as many drivers ahead pitted for new boots. It took him to fifth and when the race was red-flagged to repair the tyre wall at Eau Rouge, the front runners were brought together with only McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, also enjoying a remarkable comeback from the back of the grid, and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg between the British driver and the podium.
He dispensed with both but could do no more. Despite committing to using practice to hone the long-run set-up of the car, knowing he would be starting from the back, his Mercedes, whose power and downforce punishes the Pirelli rubber more than most, was working through the soft compound too quickly and a switch to the medium for the final stint meant catching Ricciardo was too big a task.
There was some gentle booing of Rosberg on the podium from part of the huge contingent of Dutch fans disappointed by Verstappen’s 11th place but they had been treated to some of his most forthright moves, once again causing Raikkonen to fume and questions to be asked about his driving style. But he was not punished and they will doubtless have the chance to cheer him on to the top steps here in future.
It was eye-catching stuff but at the business end of the title fight, while a third place may feel nothing like a win, if Hamilton had been offered it on Friday morning, he would have snapped it up.
