Hamilton wins at Spa as Vettel blows tyre on penultimate lap

F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix today at Spa-Francorchamps, leading the race from start to finish. Nico Rosberg ended a close second after a difficult start while Romain Grosjean finished third, having been handed the position by Sebastian Vettel who saw his podium vanish with a blown Pirelli tyre.

Under sunny skies, the initial start became a total miss as Nico Hulkenberg immediately experienced an engine problem in the warm up lap. He was asked to continue on and take the start nonetheless, but still rolled into the pits, requiring all others to make another formation lap.

That next lap, Sainz also reported a problem, and as everybody lined up for the real start, the Spaniard entered the pits to retire from the race, before it even started properly. Sainz however did make it back to the track a bit later, joining the race at the back of the pack.

As the lights went out for the remaining 18 cars, Hamilton made the best start from pole and took the lead but still had to fend off Perez at the end of the Kemmel straight. Daniel Ricciardo also made an impressive start and took the inside of turn 1 to move up into third place.

Rosberg initially dropped down to 6th but managed to get back into 4th by the end of the second lap, meaning Vettel became 5th, ahead of Bottas, Grosjean, Massa, Kvyat and Verstappen. Raikkonen was 11th while Alonso moved up into 13th, having started from the very back of the grid.

At the same time, Maldonado encountered a problem on his Lotus and also returned to the pits to retire.

By lap 7, Hamilton pulled a gap of nearly 6 seconds to Perez. Ricciardo and Rosberg were both close behind the Force India while Vettel followed two seconds further down the road.

At the end of lap 7, Ricciardo became the first to pit, changing from soft to new mediums. Perez pitted on lap latter, allowing Rosberg to move up into second place. Grosjean meanwhile moved up a place as he passed Bottas while Kvyat earlier managed to get past the other Williams of Kvyat.

Alonso meanwhile also pitted surprisingly early, knowing that both McLaren's had started the race on the medium tyres.

Lap 9 marked numerous pitstops, including Grosjean, Kvyat, Massa, Verstappen and Ericsson, none however with any issues, albeit that Bottas briefly moved back ahead of Grosjean, only to get easily passed once again at the end of the Kemmel straight. Bottas though returned to the track with three soft tyres and one medium compound tyre on the right rear, obviously something out of the limits of the regulations.

On lap 11 Rosberg pitted and rejoined the track just ahead of Perez, and with the latter not having DRS on the straight, he managed to narrowly fend him off and retain the position.

One lap later Hamilton pitted and rejoined the track on mediums, slotting in just behind Vettel and trailing him for the entire lap until the Ferrari driver opted to pit himself as well. This left Hamilton leading the race, just 3.5s ahead of his teammate.

15 seconds further down the road, Perez faced stiffer competition as the race moved on, with Grosjean first getting past Ricciardo and on lap 20 eventually also alongside and ahead of Perez. Another lap later, Daniel Ricciardo came to a stop at the chicane, losing drive and parking his car alongside the track. Unfortunately though, there was no easy place to get the car away, so a virtual safety car was deemed necessary to allow the marshalls to safely push the car out of the way.

On lap 31, Hamilton pitted from the lead, having just 1.3s left of his advantage on Rosberg. Hamilton changed to new soft tyres with Rosberg doing the same thing one lap later as both did not opt to stop during the virtual safety car period.

As the race appeared to settle, more battles unfolded, especially thanks to Grosjean and Kvyat. The former came ever closer to Vettel in the fight for third place while Kvyat managed to get past Raikkonen on lap 37 to challenge Massa for 6th. The Brazilian however could consistently use DRS as he trailed Perez.

On lap 40, following 2 failed attempts at Kemmel, Kvyat eventually made the move stick, only just managing to keep his car on the track and through the first right hander of Les Combes. Another lap later it proved a lot easier to get past Perez, using newer and softer tyres to their excellence.

One lap from the end, as Spa confirms its promise, more excitement happens as Sebastian Vettel's rear right tyre disintegrated as he came up the hill that is Raidillon. Vettel was already struggling for grip for quite a while and in the end appears to have expected just a bit too much from the Pirelli tyres. Vettel caused some trouble for others as he failed to move over, staying on the racing line for nearly the entire lap. He went on to pit and blame Pirelli for him missing the podium.

At the same time, Hamilton eased to victory, 2 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Romain Grosjean became a surprising, but well deserved third place finisher at the Belgian Grand Prix.