After being defeated in consecutive
races going into F1’s annual summer break, Ferrari hit back in style as the
season roared back into life in Belgium, with Sebastian Vettel brilliantly
overhauling title rival Lewis Hamilton before leading the Mercedes driver home
to eat his points advantage.
Vettel decisively
claimed the lead on what was a chaotic first lap of the Grand Prix, in
which a late - braking Nico Hulkenberg triggered an enormous crash at Turn 1
involving Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel
Ricciardo, meanwhile, also picked up what would ultimately prove race-ending
damage in a separate incident.
Meanwhile Max Verstappen delighted
the hordes of Dutch fans who’d crossed the border to watch their hero race by
claiming a surprise third place – very much a welcome result, given Red Bull’s
struggles for pace around the Spa track throughout the weekend. The man on the
move throughout the Spa race was Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn making his way
up from P17 at the start of the race – having taken engine penalties for a new
Mercedes power unit – to P4 by the end of the race with a string of incisive
passes.
Others
to have a happy day at Spa were Haas, who overcame their pace issues from
Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions to claim a double points finish, with
Grosjean in seventh and Magnussen in eighth. Elsewhere, Pierre Gasly will have
been chuffed with ninth, while in Leclerc’s absence, Marcus Ericsson held up
his end of the bargain for Sauber; bring the C37 10th after a solid
afternoon. Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, heads away from his home race with the
ignominy of having been last in every single session of the weekend, having
finished 15th out of 15 classified runners.
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