[ad_1]
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Lewis Hamilton took another step towards a record seventh Formula One title on Sunday with a dominating headlights victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Briton, who had started from pole after an inspired qualifying display, was in the lead on every lap as he led his teammate Valtteri Bottas across the line for a Mercedes one-two.
Hamilton appeared to have perfect control in the lead after retaining his lead at the start and on the long flurry to the Les Combes chicane despite an oversteer hit.
The durability of his tires, which raised memories of his triumph on three wheels limping to the line at his home British Grand Prix, raised some concern in the champion.
But even those concerns, which injected a touch of danger into the otherwise straightforward race, proved unfounded when he crossed the line 8.4 seconds behind his Finnish stablemate.
“I know it’s not necessarily what everyone always wants to see, a Mercedes up front,” said Hamilton, who now holds a 50-point lead in the championship over Bottas and 47 ahead of Red Bull’s third-placed Max Verstappen. .
“But no matter how successful we are, we just keep our heads down.”
Hamilton’s victory was the 89th of his career, bringing him ever closer to equaling Michael Schumacher’s seven titles and leaving him just two behind the German’s record of 91 racing wins.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton crosses the line to win the race. (Photo: Pool via REUTERS / Francois Lenoir)
It was also the champion’s fifth victory in seven races so far this season and the fourth of his career at the Spa-Francorchamps track.
Bottas, winner of the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, but now with two race wins behind Hamilton, said: “I think Lewis was flawless today.”
“PRETTY BORING”
Verstappen, the only non-Mercedes winner so far this year, achieved his sixth consecutive podium, but called the race “boring.”
“I ran out of tires at the end so I was stretching, saving the front tires,” said the 22-year-old, who had a lonely afternoon after a battle on the first lap with his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
“It wasn’t nice today.”
READ: F1: Hamilton greets Boseman and advocates an end to ‘boring’ racing
Ricciardo finished fourth for Renault, while taking the extra point for the fastest lap. His teammate Esteban Ocon closed out a good weekend for the French manufacturer by snatching fifth place on the last lap from Red Bull’s Alexander Albon.
Lando Norris, the only McLaren in the race after teammate Carlos Sainz was unable to start due to an exhaust problem, was seventh, while Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly took the honors of ‘Driver of the day ‘in eighth place.
FERRARI FIGHT
Ferrari, a winner in Belgium for the past two years, finished out of the points when his lack of speed was exposed on the long straights at Spa.
Sebastian Vettel, who left Ferrari at the end of the year, was 13th, one place ahead of last year’s winner and pole-winner Charles Leclerc, whose career was further hampered by slow pit stops.
“We need to work and find something because it’s very difficult like that,” Leclerc said of the Italian team’s form that even led to a head shake from Vettel’s replacement Sainz.
The race was interrupted by an early safety car, dispatched after an accident involving Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell.
The Italian lost control of his Alfa Romeo at the exit of the Fagnes chicane.
Russell, racing behind Giovinazzi in his Williams, picked up a loose wheel that came off the car, leaving debris strewn across the track.
