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Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off at the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks earlier; The six-time Mercedes world champion was also able to start first at Spa, recommending the 93rd time trial of his career to Hollywood actor Chadwick Boseman, who died Saturday morning. This year, the British rider was able to start from the lead for the fifth time. The second starting block, like the Spanish Grand Prix, was taken by his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who got more than half a second from Hamilton. The third fastest time was run by Max Verstappen with Red Bull. The Renault did well; Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth and Esteban Ocon sixth. The negative surprise of the Belgian timekeeper was provided by the two Ferraris: they did not advance from Q2, Charles Leclerc was 13th and Sebastian Vettel 14th.
Last year, Leclerc won the race, the young Monaco driver achieved the first pole position of his F1 career in Belgium and the victory of the race, Hamilton then second. Hamilton was last able to win in Belgium in 2017, along with a total of three victories (2010, 2015, 2017) at the legendary track, with Michael Scumacher at the top with his 6 wins. In 2018, there was also a Ferrari victory, with Vettel winning ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. There was little chance of something similar now, even scoring would have been a feat for Vettel.
Before the race, the drivers remembered Anthoine Hubertre, who lost his life in F2 last year.
For McLaren, the race started horribly; Although Carlos Sainz took the excellent seventh position in the time trial, he was unable to start due to a fault in the exhaust system. The Spanish rider is very unlucky, he was eliminated on the first lap last year.
After the start, Hamilton held onto first place, Bottas’ second place wasn’t really in jeopardy either, but behind them Verstappen and Ricciardo fought a battle to kill in the corners for third place. The Dutchman finally managed to defend himself from the attacks of his former partner. There was only one lead substitution, Alex Albon (Red Bull) lost fifth place, Ocon overtook him immediately after Eau Rouge. Leclerc also started well, he moved up to eighth place, but then he started to go backwards, they passed him in a row on the straight, he was only 12th on the ninth lap. The two Mercedes raced away from Verstappen, running the fastest laps in a row. Bottas clung to Hamilton, the distance between them didn’t increase much more than 2 seconds.
On lap 11, the safety car was dispatched due to the accident of Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell. The Italian driver of the Alfa Romeo slipped during acceleration and crashed into the rubber wall, one of the detached wheel spots hitting Russell’s car behind him. The British pilot was helpless, unable to avoid a collision. None of them were injured in the accident.
Almost everyone on the field took advantage of the safety car phase and switched to new tires. Only Pierre Gasly (AlpaTauri) and Sergio Pérez (Racing Point) chose different tactics, they were left out with the harder compound tires.
The safety car stayed inside for three laps, a lot of debris fell onto the track due to the collision, and it took a long time to clear the ruins. After the restart, the order of the top three did not change, behind them Gasly-Pérez-Ricciardo-Albon-Ocon-Stroll-Norris was the order of the other scorers.
Midway through the race, Hamilton’s lead over Bottas increased by 3 seconds, while Verstappen caught up with the Finn for 1.5 seconds. This was also noticed by Bottas, so he accelerated for the next 4-5 laps and started the Dutchman a bit. Ricciardo, who was in fourth place, was already following them for 17 seconds. On lap 35, Bottas complained on the team radio that his legs were numb on the brake pedal, other than that the final quarter of the race was uneventful in the lead. At the Spanish Grand Prix, the Finns had a problem with general overheating.
On lap 38, Hamilton stopped the sled in front of the finish line, but that didn’t jeopardize his first place, he didn’t even waste time. A few laps later, Bottas copied Hamilton’s maneuver.
The order didn’t even change until the fall, Hamilton confidently won the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix.
he won the 89th British race in Belgium, just two victories from Schumacher’s record.
Like Boseman, who remembered the timekeeper after the race was knocked down, he celebrated his victory with the Wakanda hand signal known from Marvel movies.
Bottas finished second, Verstappen third and Ricciardo fourth. With the other Renault, Ocon overtook Albon again on the last lap, finishing fifth. Lando Norris became seventh behind Albon. Starting at 12th place, Gasly came up with the alternate tactic, moving up to 8th after his offset wheel change. The last two points were scored by Racing Point in the order of Lance Stroll-Sergio Pérez. Ferrari’s baton race also continued into the race, with none of its drivers scoring points; Vettel finished 13th and Leclerc 14th. Ricciardo scored the extra point for the fastest lap.
- 1. Lewis Hamilton (British, Mercedes) 1:24:08.761 hours
- 2. Valtteri Bottas (Finn, Mercedes) 8.448 seconds behind
- 3. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull) 15,455 mp h.
- 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Renault) 18.877 sec h.
- 5. Esteban Ocon (France, Renault) 40,650 mp h.
- 6. Alexander Albon (Thailand, Red Bull) 42,712 sec h.
- 7. Lando Norris (British, McLaren) 43,774 mp h.
- 8. Pierre Gasly (France, Alpha Tauri) 47,371 mp h.
- 9. Lance Stroll (kanadai, Racing Point) 52,603 mp h.
- 10. Sergio Pérez (Mexican, Racing Point) 53,179 sec h.
Fastest lap: Ricciardo, 1: 47.483 minutes, lap 44
With another victory, Hamilton further increased his advantage in the World Cup; the defending champion has 157 points after 7 races, the second Verstappen 110 and the third Bottas 107. A week later in Monza, the World Championship will continue with the Italian Grand Prix.
(Cover image: Lewis Hamilton after the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix. Agency: Pool 2020 Source: Getty Images Europe)
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