“I benefited from the fact that [the cars ahead] weren’t racing me really, they were just racing people behind, that I wasn’t their opponent and they assumed I was too quick anyway. I was cautious at the end because of tires but I brought it home”. Perez promptly followed which promoted Rosberg up to second, nearly nine seconds behind his championship rival.
“So, that is a bit worrying for sure”, said Rosberg. “I felt 100% all weekend”.
“Lewis did a great job and deserved the win”, he said.
“I gave it everything, but not enough”.
He added: “I am rushing off after this because we are expecting our first child any moment”.
Mercedes have now scored in 50 consecutive races, but Sunday’s win was their first in the Belgian event since 1955 when the great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, a five-time champion, triumphed.
“Nico had obviously good pace but I was able to answer most of the time”, Hamilton said.
Hamilton is looking to increase his 21-point lead over Rosberg in drivers’ standings and take his sixth victory of the season.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain celebrates with the trophy on the podium winning the Belgi …
“Qualifying went well until the end”, said Nico Rosberg.
When his right rear tyre finally blew on the 42nd of the 43 laps, Grosjean, who had been on his tail throughout, had a simple task to claim an 10th career podium place.
It’s back! almost a month has passed since Sebastian Vettel’s win in Hungary and now Formula One returns, with the always-tricky Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton is now 28 points ahead his teammate after executing a flawless two-stop strategy that saw him maintain a comfortable gap to Rosberg in the second stint after the German had closed it down to 2.5 seconds after the first round of pit-stops. This is illegal in Formula One, and meant the driver took on penalties.
The 28-year-old four-time world champion was the victim of a spectacular high-speed tyre failure on the penultimate lap as he fought to retain third place under pressure from chasing Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus. The third place was a boost for financially-troubled Lotus, whose cars were set to be impounded after the race in a legal dispute with former reserve Charles Pic. By lap seven, Hamilton had already extended a clear five-second lead over Pérez.
Engine issues were prevalent in the midpack, with Pastor Maldonado, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz Jr. all recording retirements, while Nico Hulkenburg failed to make the race start.
Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Marcus Ericsson rounded off the top then but the weekend belonged to Hamilton who was delighted to finish off a dream weekend.