The next race is the Italian Grand Prix on September 6. Today’s Grand Prix takes place from Spa-Francorchamps and has a start time of 8 a.m. ET, and can be watched online through free live stream via the link below.
Hamilton has scored 10 pole positions in 11 races so far this season, but before Belgium had converted only five of his nine into victories. With Rosberg competitive all weekend, there’s no doubt he’ll give Hamiton a run for his money.
Hamilton’s best lap of one minute 48.984 seconds was nearly half a second quicker than his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg. The result ended his run of 21 successive races in the points. Rosberg was unable to get any closer, and for Hamilton, it was yet another regulation win, the 39th of his career, his lead in the championship extended to 28 points. “To translate pole positions into wins is what I want to do”, Hamilton said.
“Unfortunately I messed up the start,” said Rosberg. Under a regulation introduced at this race, teams weren’t allowed to coach their drivers through the start procedure over the radio, leaving drivers to find the optimal clutch setup themselves. He was hit with a drive-through penalty for the embarrassing gaffe and his race was scuppered.
Rosberg now has 36 Grand Prix podiums to his name, drawing him level with two-time world champion Graham Hill for joint 22nd on the all-time list.
“The pole trophy is not particularly exciting but getting poles is definitely a great thing”, he said.
“I have been working really hard on the starts to make sure I understood all the facts”. Behind them will be Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in third and Force India’s Sergio Perez in fourth.
Hamilton was all praises for the team, citing that his vehicle felt good from the get-go.
It was Grosjean’s first podium of the season for the troubled Lotus team that has faced severe financial problems.
At one of the fastest tracks on the F1 calendar-70% of each lap here is covered at full throttle-Rosberg was able to steer his superior Mercedes back up to second.
Perplexingly, Jenson Button said: ‘That’s the best lap I’ve done for a long time.’ He finished a place ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, but both cars have so many new engine parts that they had incurred a combined 105-place grid penalty before qualifying started.
Kvyat late soft-tyre overtakes included a move on Perez, who eventually finished fifth after the Mexican dropped out of podium contention with a second stop under the Virtual Safety auto when Ricciardo pulled into retirement at the Bus Stop chicane.
Mechanical issues pressured a number of rivals, together with Australian Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and Venezuelan Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado, out of the race.