1
Sebastian Vettel has won the Belgian Grand Prix, beating his rival Lewis Hamilton to the top spot. Vettel closes the gap to Hamilton in the driver's championship and now sits 17 points behind his fellow four-time world champion.
Max Verstappen took his first podium finish since his win at Austria earlier this year. The Dutchman, who had a large crowd of supporters at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend, finished over half a minute down on race-winner Vettel.
It wasn't all joy for Ferrari however, as Kimi Raikkonen was forced to retire in the early stages of the race. The Finn was hit from behind by Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 on the opening lap and suffered a puncture. The Italian team called him in a number of laps later to retire the car.
There was a major shunt at the opening corner of the race, which caused three drivers to immediately retire. Nico Hulkenberg locked up and hit the back of Fernando Alonso, causing the Spaniard to spectacularly fly over the top of Charles Leclerc's Sauber.
Daniel Ricciardo was left with a damaged car after the first lap, as he was clipped from behind in the aforementioned incident. The Australian was left with a heavily damaged rear wing, as well as a broken front wing after his contact with Raikkonen. He rejoined the track a number of laps down before Red Bull called it a day towards the end of the race.
Valtteri Bottas, who had to start the race towards the back after taking an engine penalty managed to climb his way back up into fourth place. The Finn was involved in a late race battle with Sergio Perez, who couldn't keep the Mercedes driver behind.
The newly reborn Force India team secured its first points in the constructor's championship after coming home in fifth and sixth, with Perez heading Esteban Ocon. After locking out the front row on Saturday, the car didn't have the pace to keep the Red Bull of Verstappen and the Mercedes of Bottas behind.
Haas also scored a double points finish, with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen crossing the line in seventh and eighth respectively. Pierre Gasly scored his second consecutive point finish, coming home in ninth. Marcus Ericsson bagged his fourth top-ten finish of the season, taking the final point on offer in Belgium.
After taking a fresh power unit for the race, Carlos Sainz failed to break into the points, finishing in eleventh. He headed the Williams pair of Sergey SIrotkin and Lance Stroll, with the former racing inside the points in the early stages of the Grand Prix.
Brendon Hartley had a frustrating race and had to settle for fourteenth, while Stoffel Vandoorne couldn't make an impact at his home race, crossing the line as the last of the active runners.
Fergal Walsh
Spa-Francorchamps - 26 August 2018
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
724,258 comments on Red Bull Racing
966 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
483,777 comments on Ferrari 279 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Ferrari
Replies (1)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
A decent race, nothing more or less. The lap 1 incident was probably the most exciting (and scary) event this round. After that, Vettel more or less steamrolled the rest. Props to Ericsson and Gasly.