Another routine drive saw Lewis Hamilton win the 2020 F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Another routine win for Lewis Hamilton saw him take the chequered flag at the Belgian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas finished third and Max Verstappen finished third.

Starting Grid

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for a sixth time at the Belgian Grand Prix as Valtteri Bottas completed a front-row lockout for Mercedes. Max Verstappen was joined by his ex-Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, the pair qualified third and fourth respectively. Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon made up the third-row of the grid. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll in eighth and ninth and Lando Norris rounded off the top ten.

Daniil Kvyat was joined by his teammate Pierre Gasly as the AlphaTauri’s started P11 and P12. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel qualified P13 and P14 with George Russell in P15. Kimi Raikkonen qualified P16 for Alfa Romeo with Romain Grosjean the better Haas in P17. Antonio Giovinazzi in P18, Nicholas Latifi in P19 and Kevin Magnussen was the slowest driver in qualifying and will start at the back of the grid.

Carlos Sainz did not start the Grand Prix as his turbo system popped on a warm-up lap which meant the Spaniard sat out the Belgian Grand Prix.

The drivers all took part in a minute’s silence before the race for the loss of Anthoine Hubert as they remembered him one year after his horrific accident which took his life at Spa.

And It’s Lights Out And Away We Go!

Hamilton had a good getaway with the Championship leader ahead of Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

The Brit stretched his lead to his Mercedes teammate as he created a 1.4 second game between himself and Bottas.

Gasly made a fantastic move past Perez and into ninth place up Eau Rouge as the Frenchman made two places from the start of the Grand Prix.

Leclerc had stormed into eighth from P13 on the grid as the Ferrari driver pressured Stroll and tried to get more positions on the opening laps.

The AlphaTauri of Gasly moved up to eighth as he made his move past Leclerc. A lap later, Perez moved past Leclerc and into ninth place.

After five laps, Hamilton led away from Bottas as Verstappen followed the Mercedes pair in third. The Renault pair placed fourth and fifth as Albon dropped a place from the start to sixth. Stroll was seventh, Gasly in eighth, Perez in ninth and Leclerc rounded off the top ten.

Norris moved up and past Leclerc into tenth place as the Ferrari dropped back even further after a great start.

Leclerc’s afternoon turned even worse as Kvyat was able to get passed the Ferrari as the soft tyres looked to slowly fade away.

On lap 11, Giovinazzi and Russell tangled together in sector three with the Safety Car released after the track was filled with debris and the two cars.

As the Safety Car peeled in, Hamilton bolted away as Bottas, Verstappen, Gasly and Perez followed the Championship leader.

On lap 16, Hamilton screamed down the radio “Loss of power” as Bottas hunted down his Mercedes teammate. Hamilton’s race engineer Pete Bonnington reassured Hamilton “It’s just engine management, all should be back to normal now.”

Ricciardo moved past Perez and into fifth place as he used DRS well and overtook the Mexican into Les Combes chicane.

Albon dived down the outside of the Bus-Stop chicane and past Perez who dropped even further back as the Mexican stayed on the tyres he started the race with.

Perez then dived into the pits and switched the Racing Point driver onto the hard tyre. This left the driver plum last after lap 19.

Ricciardo breezed past Gasly and into fourth-place down the Kemmel Straight as DRS assistance helped the Aussie driver again.

At the half-way point of the race, Hamilton carried on in first as Bottas trundled along in second with Verstappen in third. Ricciardo was fourth, Gasly in fifth, Albon in sixth, Ocon in seventh, Stroll in eighth, Norris in ninth and Kvyat rounded off the top ten.

Albon’s pace advantage closed him up to Gasly as the Red Bull driver moved past the AlphaTauri and into fifth place into Les Combes on lap 24.

Another move down the Kemmel Straight as Ocon swallowed Gasly with the Frenchman’s old hard tyres started to fade away.

Gasly peeled into the pits as the AlphaTauri removed the hard tyres for a new set of medium tyres.

Vettel was a sitting duck as Perez breezed past the four-time World Champion into the famous Les Combes chicane and into P11.

Gasly started his comeback drive after his pit-stop which dropped him down to 16th. The Frenchman dispatched Latifi, Magnussen and Grosjean in the space of a few laps.

The AlphaTauri of Gasly swooped past Vettel down the Kemmel Straight and into 12th as the Ferrari locked up after the overtake happened.

Perez moved back up into the points as another easy move down the Kemmel Straight saw the Racing Point recover tenth place.

Gasly continued his amazing recovery driver as the AplhaTauri driver moved past the 2007 World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, and into 11th.

Leclerc fancied 15th place and go 15th place as he moved past Magnussen into the Les Combes chicane on lap 36.

Perez judged the braking zone to perfection as his move saw him executed a fantastic move past Kvyat into Les Combes.

Five laps remained, Hamilton stayed in his starting position the same as Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Albon followed in fifth as he was hunted by Ocon and Norris. Stroll was eighth, Perez in ninth and Gasly in tenth.

Ocon moved past Albon on the final lap into Les Combes chicane and a great number of points for Renault as they finished fourth and fifth.

Final Grid Standings

P1- Lewis Hamilton

P2- Valtteri Bottas

P3- Max Verstappen

P4- Daniel Ricciardo

P5- Esteban Ocon

P6- Alex Albon

P7- Lando Norris

P8- Pierre Gasly

P9- Lance Stroll

P10- Sergio Perez

P11- Daniil Kvyat

P12- Kimi Raikkonen

P13- Sebastian Vettel

P14- Charles Leclerc

P15- Romain Grosjean

P16- Nicholas Latifi

P17- Kevin Magnussen

Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell retired from the Belgian Grand Prix.

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