“It was really intense. I was waiting for Lewis to do a mistake but he didn’t.” (Vettel)
 
belgium racing helmet and brussels
 

Belgium GP Race Results 2017:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
4. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
5. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
6. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
7. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8. Felipe Massa (Williams)
9. Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10. Carlos Sainz Jnr (Toro Rosso)
More on the F1 teams of 2017
 

Hamilton Bounces Back After Disappointment in Hungary

 
Lewis Hamilton has had a good weekend in Belgium. On Saturday, he equalled the record set by Formula One Giant Michael Schumacher, of 68 pole positions and today he won his 200th race, to close the gap in this season’s championship battle with Vettel to just 7 points.
 
Hamilton started in pole and was rarely more than 2 seconds ahead of Vettel. Following the emergence of the safety car, the drivers took the opportunity to pit – leaving Vettel on ultra-softs and Hamilton on softs to finish the race. At the restart, Hamilton appeared to definitively seize command of the race, and from that point on led fairly comfortably to the finish line.
 
During the last race in Hungary, teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon collided and there were further clashes today; prompting Force India to start imposing team orders. On Lap 29, they collided for the second time (also on Lap 1) during the race ,when Perez squeezed his team mate towards a wall at 180mph, damaging Ocon’s front wing and leaving himself with a puncture. Perez failed to finish the race.
 
Ocon tweeted after the race: “We were having a good race until Perez tried to kill me 2 times.” But according to Perez, Ocon should have backed off when challenged “.. I think Esteban was too optimistic. There was no need to touch there.”
 

Tempers Become Frayed

 
But it doesn’t appear that Ocon will let this go, “He is supposed to be a professional with a lot of experience but he hasn’t shown it. I will speak to Sergio. I am furious.”
 
Team boss Vijay Mallya also felt that the time had come to put an end to this ‘reckless’ racing “as much as I support competitive racing, the repeated incidents between both our cards are now becoming very concerning.”
 
Another in-team clash at the Hungarian Grand Prix was between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo – putting the latter out of the race. Today in Spa was a different story. Ricciardo achieved his 6th podium finish of the season, while Verstappen suffered his 6th retirement, after his engine failed. The difference between them, according to Ricciardo, is “I talk to my car, I massage it. Max is more aggressive – he goes straight in.”
 

The Mclaren Car Lets Fernando Down Again

 
Fernando Alonso couldn’t build on his 6th place of the last race as, true to form, the power of his Mclaren let him down again and he failed to finish for the 8th time in 11th races. There is talk of a possible move to Williams to rescue him from this ongoing predicament.
 
In a lovely tribute to Michael Schumacher, a hero here in Spa (and everywhere in Formula One), his son Mick did a lap in the 1994 Benetton. His record of 91 wins seems unsurpassable – with 58, the nearest challenger, Lewis Hamilton still has 33 to go…
 
We can’t wait for Monza and the next chapter of this title battle! For more about the Grand Prix in Italy and the Hospitality Packages we offer then please go to our Monza GP page.