F1 2020: Lewis Hamilton wins Belgium Grand Prix

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton swept to his fourth victory at the Belgium Grand Prix, leading home his teammate Valtteri Bottas as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third to maintain his record of finishing on the podium at every race he’s been classified in this year.

Following his dominant pole on Saturday, Hamilton resisted the first lap slipstreaming contest down to Les Combes to hold onto the lead, before retaining it for all 44 laps to close out his fifth victory out of seven races this year. Bottas came home around eight seconds behind his teammate, with Verstappen a further seven seconds down the road.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo led home the team’s best finish of the year in fourth, crossing the line under four seconds behind Verstappen after some rapid final laps, with Esteban Ocon overtaking the Red Bull of Alex Albon on the final tour to take fifth, Albon just holding onto sixth from the McLaren of Lando Norris.

An impressive drive from Pierre Gasly saw him take eighth for AlphaTauri, while the final points were taken by the Racing Point pair of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez in P9 and P10 – with the Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finishing out of the points in P13 and P14 respectively. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s fourth Belgian Grand Prix win sees him draw equal with Jim Clark and Kimi Raikkonen on third in the all-time list for Spa victories, behind Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

F1 2019: Max Verstappen wins German Grand Prix

Hockenheim delivered an absolutely superb race in 2018 – but it was nothing compared to the absolute humdinger the iconic German track produced this weekend. And it was the large contingent of traveling Dutch fans that left the happiest as Max Verstappen mastered the rainy conditions to clinch victory on a day when many of the other big guns quite literally hit trouble.

But Verstappen's victory was just one storyline in what will be remembered as an all-time classic Grand Prix. Behind the Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel completed a sensational comeback from 20th on the grid to second, while Daniil Kvyat was a surprise third as Toro Rosso scored just their second-ever podium. Runaway championship leaders Mercedes, meanwhile, suffered a nightmare in their 200th race, with Bottas crashing out and polesitter Lewis Hamilton having multiple offs on his way to P11.

Starting second, Verstappen and Red Bull mastered the strategy, taking a gamble to switch to mediums first, then realizing their mistake and diving back into the pits. The Dutchman pitted five times in total, but made the right calls at the right time to emerge at the head of the field.

Vettel crossed the line second, the German making up seven places in the last 15 laps to cap a marvelous comeback, after starting dead last having not set a time in qualifying. And he would be joined on the podium by a tearful Daniil Kvyat, the Russian securing a shock podium for Toro Rosso after the Italian team pitted him for fresh boots at the perfect time.

Lance Stroll briefly led the race in the final stint, after Racing Point, rolled the dice and put him on dry tyres. The move proved inspired and while he battled bravely, he eventually succumbed to Kvyat and Vettel to take fourth, ahead of McLaren's Carlos Sainz, who at one stage was as low as 14th.

Alexander Albon survived contact with Pierre Gasly on the final lap to take sixth in the other Toro Rosso, ahead of the Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, with Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen banging wheels but escaping unscathed to complete the top 10.