Lewis Hamilton was able to decrease the gap to World Drivers’ Championsip leader Sebastian Vettel down to just 7 points by winning the 2017 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BELGIAN GRAND PRIX. Max Verstappen was the victim of more Red Bull reliability issues and the Force India teammates tangled on more than one occasion.
The race start on Sunday was quite clean into turn one, with no major contact to report. The top size teams maintained their positions, despite Vettel having made an attempt on Hamilton into the bus stop chicane. Further back on the grid, Esteban Ocon made massive contact with the inside wall on the run up to Eau Rouge after being squeezed by his teammate, who was squeezed by Nico Hülkenberg. Ocon was able to continue the race without having to pit.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg provided some entertainment for the fans, swapping positions and battling on the track, before the Honda powered McLaren inevitably lost pace to the cars around it.
Pascal Wehrlein was the first retirement of the race, parking in the garage early into the race. A few laps later, Max Verstappen found himself parking up just after Eau Rouge, retiring from the race due to a mechanical failure… a story that has been all too familiar for the Red Bull driver this season. His car lost power down the main straight. This incident was the cause of Kimi Räikkönen’s 10 second stop and go penalty, as the Finn ignored the double waved yellow flags in the area. Unfortunately for the Ferrari driver, the penalty was awarded after the pit cycle, forcing Räikkönen to pit again to serve the penalty. Räikkönen was not the only one to get a penalty, with Sergio Pérez receiving a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when overtaking cars at the bus stop chicane.
Alonso’s terrible day came to an end on lap 27, pulling into the garage. Two laps later, an incident between the two Force India drivers brought out the safety car. Ocon was on the inside of the gentle turn two on the run up to Eau Rouge, attempting to overtake his teammate. Pérez didn’t leave the space for his teammate and the duo collided. Ocon damaged his front wing and Pérez suffered a right rear puncture. Both drivers pitted under the safety car and were able to continue in the race. Hamilton was not very happy with the safety car, first complaining that the FIA shouldn’t have deployed the safety car and then complaining it was driving too slow for him to maintain the proper temperatures.
On the restart, Vettel was able to use the slipstream to stay extremely close to the Mercedes of Hamilton, having a drag race with the Mercedes after Eau Rouge, but unable to take the lead. Behind, Bottas lost out at the bus stop chicane, as Daniel Ricciardo and Räikkönen snuck past and forced Valtteri Bottas to cut the chicane.
Vettel slowly lost time to the leading Mercedes, allowing Hamilton to win on 200th grand prix. Ricciardo completed the podium. Vettel earned 18 points for his finish, increasing his points collection to 220, while Hamilton earned 25 points to make his championship points collection up to 213. Just 7 points separate the World Drivers’ Championship contenders, heating things up for the Italy in one week’s time.
