After what felt like an endless Formula One summer break, the drivers and teams returned to action around the hilly and loved Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the FORMULA 1 2018 JOHNNIE WALKER BELGIAN GRAND PRIX. With 24 points dividing Sebastian Vettel from the leading Lewis Hamilton, a win was crucial for Ferrari to regain their footing in the World Drivers’ Championship race for five titles.
Off the line, Hamilton moved to the outside to cover off the Ferrari of Vettel into turn one. Vettel got a good run coming out of Eau Rouge and was able to slipstream Hamilton down the long straight and take the lead before Les Combes. Both Force India drivers were able to get alongside of the race leaders down the main straight but fell into formation as they entered the chicane.
Rear the back of the grid, a massive collision into the first corner caused the safety car to be deployed. Nico Hülkenberg ran too deep into the first corner, locking up and running into the rear of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. Alonso was flung over the top of Charles Leclerc. All three drivers retired from the race.
Kimi Räikkönen didn’t escape the first lap without incident, suffering a right-rear puncture after being hit by Daniel Ricciardo in turn one. Ricciardo finished the lap without a rear wing, having been pushed into Räikkönen. He returned to the garage under the safety car to have the wing refitted. Valtteri Bottas also got into a bit of trouble, locking up into the first corner and getting into the rear of Sergey Sirotkin’s Williams. Bottas later pitted for repairs.
As the race resumed, Hamilton had a look up the inside of Vettel in the final corner, but nothing materialized, and it allowed Vettel to get a better run down the main straight and pull away from the trailing Mercedes. The Force India cars maintained their P3 and P4, until Max Verstappen hunted down Esteban Ocon in his slipstream down the Kemmel straight and making the move down the inside of Les Combes. Verstappen quickly got by Sergio Pérez down the same part of the track on lap ten, getting the overtake done easily with DRS assistance.
Kimi Räikkönen became the fourth retirement of the opening lap action, with Ferrari deciding to retire him to the garage on lap nine due to the damage to the floor of the car from his first lap tyre puncture.
After rather orderly racing, Hamilton was the first of the leading cars to pit for fresh tyres. He entered the pit on lap 22 and changed onto the soft compound tyres, coming out just behind Verstappen. Vettel responded the following lap, changing to the soft compound as well. He narrowly maintained his race lead. Hamilton didn’t want to stay behind Verstappen much longer, so he overtook the Red Bull driver down the Kemmel straight with DRS assistance and began to chase down Vettel.
Verstappen didn’t react to the pit stops of the leading cars, wishing to stay out to increase his gap to Sergio Pérez behind to above 18 seconds so that he would not lose the position. Pérez pitted a few laps later and Verstappen pitted the lap after. Pérez lost his position to Valtteri Bottas, but the Mercedes driver was still 12 seconds behind Verstappen.
After 31 laps of waiting for a safety car, Red Bull opted to retire Daniel Ricciardo from the race, becoming the fifth retirement from the first lap collisions. He lost a lap under the first safety car period to replace his damaged rear wing after the first lap carnage.
The remainder of the race was relatively quiet. Sebastian Vettel maintained his race lead to take victory and slightly reduce the points gap in the World Drivers’ Championship to 17 points. Hamilton and Verstappen conclude the podium.
The teams and drivers will have little time to relax, as the Formula One action will continue next week for the second half of this back-to-back weekend. They will be heading to another high-speed circuit – Monza – for the 2018 Italian Grand Prix on the weekend of September 2.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
