Hamilton extends championship with comfortable Belgian GP win
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Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable win at the Belgian Grand Prix to extend his championship lead. The Brit faced effectively no challenge as he strolled to an 89th career F1 victory ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen.
The frontrunners did struggle with tyre wear towards the end but they nursed their tyres to the end.
The F1 paddock got together before the race to remember Anthoine Hubert, the Formula 2 driver who sadly passed away following a crash in the F2 Feature Race at this event last year.
A minute’s silence was impeccably observed by all before the racing got underway, and the whole racing community will remember the talented Frenchman and hold him in their hearts.
On the way to the grid we lost our first car of the day. Carlos Sainz was set to start in seventh but an exhaust failure meant he was unable to start the race, his first DNS of his F1 career.
Hamilton led from Bottas at the start and the Mercedes duo were able to defend from those behind on the Kemmel straight. Daniel Ricciardo looked to attack former teammate Verstappen, putting a move down the inside but the Dutchman held P3.
On Lap 11 Antonio Giovinazzi lost control in the middle sector, hitting the wall. A stray wheel hit Russell’s front right tyre, ending his race as well. Thankfully both drivers were ok and the crash originally looked a lot worse than it was.
The incident brought out the safety car, with all but Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez pitting. The pair jumped up to fourth and fifth as the debris was cleared.
Perez’s tyres were soon going off as he was passed by both Ricciardo and Alex Albon on Lap 17. The Mexican pitted a lap later, exiting the pits in last.
Gasly was performing better on his hard tyres, but Ricciardo breezed past him on Lap 21 on the Kemmel straight. Next up was Albon, and the Red Bull overtook a couple of laps later before Gasly made his stop, also coming out last.
The pair then began to pick off the Ferrari-powered cars one by one, coasting past on the run into Les Combes.
The Ferrari engine had no chance all day, spending the majority of the race ahead of just the Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
With a few laps to go the frontrunners began to complain of tyre wear, but they all managed to sneak home, with no repeat of the drama at Silverstone.
Nothing could stop Hamilton taking victory ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. Ricciardo scored an excellent P4 for Renault, with Esteban Ocon overtaking Albon for fifth on the final lap.
Norris was seventh, ahead of gasly, Lance Stroll and Perez. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc could only manage P13 and 14 for Ferrari in a terrible weekend for them.