Lewis took his 58th career victory today - his third at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and fifth of the 2017 season. Valtteri finished today's Belgian Grand Prix in P5. Today's result marks the 71st victory for the Mercedes-AMG Silver Arrows in Formula One. Lewis (213 points) closes the gap on Sebastian Vettel (220 points) to seven points in the Drivers' Championship, with Valtteri (179 points) in P3.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (392 points) lead Ferrari (348 points) by 44 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: What was a fantastic drive from Lewis to finish off a perfect weekend from him. It was a great result for the championship and a faultless performance. He defended well on the opening lap then it was a battle lap by lap to stretch out the gap to Sebastian. After the pit stop, we saw a small blister on one of his rear tyres and we had some question marks about whether they would last to the finish. Then the Safety Car came out and made the decision easier for us. We had a discussion about which tyres to fit - we didn't have a new set of UltraSoft remaining, and the team on the pit wall knew that the Soft would be the better tyre over the stint - if we could defend in those first laps after the restart. As Lewis showed, it was the right decision, and he delivered a great win. From Valtteri's side, we struggled with his car this weekend, and especially in traction as you could see on the TV pictures at the restart. We need to find out what happened there - and likewise, he will be the first to be self-critical about losing the positions after the restart. Now we move on to Monza. Ferrari were very strong here and we can expect exactly the same at their home race. Our job is to keep pushing, keep bringing performance to the car and to make sure we deliver all of our potential at every race from here to the end of the season.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A fantastic piece of opportunistic driving by Daniel secured a great podium for the team today with third place. We felt we ran the correct strategy going into the race, as soon as it went to the safety car and it all bunched up we knew Daniel would get one shot at the restart against Bottas and he made it work. He then fended off Kimi to the end securing P3; fully deserved after he drove a phenomenal race today. Unfortunately it has been an enormously frustrating day for Max. Once again he was in a great position and through no fault of his own he has suffered another engine failure. Our engine partners have apologized and are quite aware that their reliability and product isn't where it should be, while Alain Prost has personally apologized to Max. With that we as a team offer our apology to the mass of Dutch fans who came out to support Max at his home race.
"Max is a fantastic talent, driving at a phenomenally high level at present, and he's got great drive and determination and he'll come through this period and this season a stronger driver. I've no doubt he'll be determined to deliver his best again in Monza, despite the engine penalties we will take there, and the disappointment he feels right now, and that's the measure of the man he is."
Maurizio Arrivabene: Going into this race, on paper at least, it didn't seem like one that would suit us particularly well. Despite that, we proved able to fight for the win right down to the final lap. Seb drove a great race and at the restart after the Safety Car, it really came very close. It's a shame Kimi had to take a penalty, which cost him almost half a minute, but he managed to recover with a nice passing move at the restart. The SF70H proved to be very competitive and the team, both at the track and in Maranello, worked with concentration and determination. However, we still need to improve. The next GP will be in Monza where we will be meeting up with all our fans.
Sahara Force India scored two points in today's Belgian Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon finished in ninth place, while Sergio Perez missed out on points.
Vijay Mallya: "I have been very happy with our overall performance during the 2017 season with both drivers scoring points for the team and racing freely. However, as much as I support competitive racing, the repeated incidents between both our cars are now becoming very concerning. Under these circumstances I have no choice but to implement a policy of team orders in the interest of safety and to protect the team's position in the constructors' championship."
Otmar Szafnauer: "It wasn't the result we wanted and we left behind a lot of points after a collision between our drivers. This is what you get when you have two very competitive drivers who are fairly equal in performance in a decent car. It has happened to others in the past and it is happening to us now. However, we cannot afford to see this in the future, so we will ensure the team controls what happens on the track. We gave our drivers the chance to sort it out by themselves, but if they cannot do it, we will have to put some more rules in place and take the situation in our control. It's disappointing to lose so many points when we had the pace to finish well with both cars. Until the clash we had looked very competitive: the pace of the car is something we hold as a positive because we head to another speed track, Monza, next week."
Felipe Massa finished 8th and Lance Stroll 11th in the Belgian Grand Prix. Both drivers had a strong start to the race on the supersoft tyre with Lance maintaining position whilst Felipe made up two places to P14 from P16 on the grid.
Lance pitted for a set of soft tyres on lap nine and re-joined in P17. Felipe pitted on lap 11 from P8 for a set of soft tyres.
Both drivers benefitted from a safety car on lap 29 and pitted for the ultrasoft tyres with Felipe coming back out in P8 and Lance in P14. Felipe maintained position whilst Lance made good progress on the ultrasoft tyre to make up three places to P11.
Felipe is now 11th in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Lance in 13th. The team remains fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 45 points.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: Congratulations to Felipe for a great race and four points. After his difficulties through the last month with missing the race in Hungary, it is great that he could come back to such a challenging circuit and deliver a strong result for the team. I am sure no one is happier about that than he is. With Lance, one or two missed opportunities, so not a perfect race, but he brought the car home just outside the points, so it was a credit worthy result. It was a very difficult weekend up to today for the team and both drivers, so overall we were happy to put that right to some extent during the race today.
A frustrating day for McLaren Honda at the Belgian Grand Prix. Both drivers made excellent starts - Stoffel moving from P20 to P17 and Fernando from P10 to P7 on lap one. However, despite initial optimism, the pecking order was quickly established, and neither were able to capitalise on their early promise.
The notorious power-hungry nature of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit took its toll, and meant Fernando and Stoffel were left vulnerable to attack on the straights. To compound the issue, Stoffel lost time during his two pit stops due to a sticky front left tyre. On lap 26, Fernando reported a problem with the engine, and the team opted to retire his car as a precaution.
A Safety Car in the latter stages of the race didn't provide any respite for Stoffel's race, and although he was gaining in the closing stages, he was unable to catch the tight pack in front. He still managed to put in a solid performance under the circumstances - starting from 20th and last position on the grid - and finished the race in 14th place.
Eric Boullier: "Today was a very disappointing day for McLaren Honda, despite the best efforts of our drivers. Both Fernando and Stoffel made excellent starts, and for a few laps we dared to dream of progress, but unfortunately it was short-lived.
"We knew this track would be difficult for us, but after a positive start to the weekend, we were surely hoping for a better on-track performance come race day. Sadly, our package was not up to the job and, as we feared, we were unable to keep up with our nearest competitors when under pressure on the long, arduous and infamous Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
"Fernando gave everything all weekend, and showed his inimitable talent and prowess at the start, rapidly gaining places, which he was ultimately rendered powerless to defend. Stoffel too, started strongly, but was unable to show off his knowledge of his home circuit - and favourite track - and finished the race in 14th, points too far out of reach. Nevertheless, he drove a measured, solid race and did all he could to finish in 14th despite starting from the back, a couple of tricky pit-stops and a car that was unable to provide the performance required to reward the thousands of fans who turned up to show him support at his first home grand prix."
Yusuke Hasegawa: "We thought we had the possibility of scoring some points here in Belgium today, so it was disappointing that we finished the race outside of the top ten.
"After starting brilliantly, Fernando then had a tough race overall. He radioed in with what he thought was a problem with the car, and although there was nothing showing in the data, we decided to stop the car as a precaution.
"Despite starting from the back of the grid, Stoffel had good pace throughout his home race, and drove well with some great overtaking manoeuvres.
"This weekend was definitely a bag of mixed fortunes. We were able to show some decent pace in qualifying, but we still have work to do with our race pace, and we will continue to accelerate our development in order to improve our PU further."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Spa was a difficult weekend for us. We expected it not to be easy and, unfortunately, that was the case, especially in Qualifying. We were only able to start from the mid-field with Carlos. Daniil, already from FP1, faced problems which we could not fix, so in the end we had to change the complete PU, which resulted in a grid position penalty. After the start, both cars were in traffic going into the first corner and they lost some positions. Nevertheless, Carlos could catch-up and finish the race in tenth position, scoring a point. I think this was the maximum he could extract from the car for today. He did a very strong first stint, where he managed the ultrasoft tyres quite in a special way, which helped him to extend the stint. Regarding Daniil, he was able to gain some positions during the race and he finished twelfth. I think the Safety Car didn't help us strategy wise, because of our tyre choice - without it, we could've had a bigger advantage at the end of the race. We now hope that we can score more points in Monza next week in order to protect our position in the Constructors' Championship."
Haas F1 Team nabbed a strong, point-paying result Sunday at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps with driver Romain Grosjean finishing seventh in the Belgian Grand Prix. Teammate Kevin Magnussen was poised to join Grosjean in the top-10 until running wide at the chicane in the final corner on lap 33, dropping from ninth to 17th. Magnussen rallied in the waning laps to finish 15th.
The point-paying performance was crucial for the second-year Haas F1 Team, as the tight midfield became increasingly tighter after Belgium. Haas F1 Team remains seventh in the constructors standings, but gained on sixth-place Toro Rosso even while ceding ground to eighth-place Renault.
Nico Hulkenberg was able to keep his Renault one spot ahead of Grosjean to finish sixth. Haas F1 Team came into Belgium with a three-point margin over Renault, but the American squad leaves with only a one-point lead. Toro Rosso, however, was 10 points ahead of Haas F1 Team before the Belgium Grand Prix, but the six points earned by Grosjean slashed the deficit in half, for Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr. earned a single point by finishing 10th. Fifth-place Williams, meanwhile, saw its gap to Haas F1 Team cut from 16 points to just 10 as neither of its drivers finished in the points.
Haas F1 Team's point tally currently stands at 35, easily surpassing the 29-point total earned in its inaugural season.
After the checkered flag dropped on the 50th Belgian Grand Prix to be held at Spa, Grosjean radioed to say, "I gave it all I had." The four spots he gained after starting 11th were very well earned. Grosjean had to make his way past his equally strong teammate after Magnussen inched ahead of him going into turn one of the 7.004-kilometer (4.352-mile), 19-turn track. As Magnussen battled the Force India of Sergio Perez, Grosjean was wheel-to-wheel with Hulkenberg. After completing lap one, Magnussen was 10th and Grosjean was 12th.
Grosjean was able to get his spot back from Magnussen on lap four before cracking the top-10 two laps later with a powerful drive past the McLaren of Fernando Alonso on the long straight leading into turn five.
When Max Verstappen's day ended on lap eight after his Red Bull came to a halt in turn four, Grosjean rose to ninth and Magnussen climbed to 11th.
Magnussen and Grosjean both started the race on the Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tire, and while running in 11th on lap nine, Magnussen keyed his radio, saying "We need to get off this tire. We can get both cars in the points if we get off this tire."
Haas F1 Team heeded the input, bringing Magnussen to the pits on lap 10 for a set of new Yellow softs. Grosjean followed on lap 11, with his VF-17 donning new softs as well. This dropped Grosjean to 13th and Magnussen to 14th.
Thanks to savvy driving augmented by the varying pit strategies employed by other teams, Grosjean was back in the top-10 by lap 14.
When ninth-place Sainz pitted his Toro Rosso on lap 19, Grosjean picked up the spot and Magnussen, who had scratched his way into 11th before Sainz headed to the pit lane, inherited 10th.
Then on lap 25, Perez pitted and served a five-second time penalty for cutting the corner in turn six to get past Grosjean earlier in the race. This brought Grosjean to eighth and Magnussen to ninth.
Seventh-place Esteban Ocon pitted his Force India on lap 27, allowing Grosjean to pick up seventh. Magnussen remained ninth.
A full-course caution came out on lap 30 when the two Force India drivers bounced off one another while racing down into turn two at Eau Rouge. Perez's right-rear tire shredded after contact with the left-front wing of Ocon. Debris littered the racing surface, necessitating the safety car to pace field while officials cleaned the track.
Haas F1 Team took advantage of the opportunity, pitting both its drivers and swapping their race-worn Yellow soft tires for a brand-new set of Red supersofts. The duo returned to the race with their track position intact and poised for their second double-points finish. But just as the race was returning to green on lap 33, Magnussen ran wide at the final chicane that leads to the frontstraight. "I just locked up both tires with cold brakes, cold tires, into the last corner at the safety car restart," said Magnussen afterward.
This dropped Magnussen to 17th and with nothing to lose, the team brought him back into the pits on lap 34 and outfitted him with a new set of Purple ultrasofts, the grippiest tires in Pirelli's lineup. It allowed Magnussen to attack in the last 10 laps, which he did, picking up two positions to finish 15th when the checkered flag waved.
Grosjean held steady in seventh from the restart through to the finish, keeping Felipe Massa's Williams at bay and Hulkenberg in his sights.
Winning the Belgian Grand Prix from the pole was three-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver scored his 58th career Formula One victory, his fifth of the season and his third at Spa. Hamilton's margin of victory was 2.358 seconds over Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. The victory significantly boosted Hamilton's championship effort as he cut seven points off the lead held by Vettel, who currently has only a seven-point advantage over Hamilton.
Grosjean now has 24 points and Magnussen has 11 points, with the duo 12th and 14th, respectively, in the championship driver standings.
Eight races remain in the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, with the next event coming Sept. 1-3 with the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Guenther Steiner: "I think we're pretty happy leaving here with six points. It's a shame for Kevin having locked up at the restart, destroying the tires. But again, six points for us - we keep on getting points. We opened the second half of the season with points, so we hope to continue to score them. Both cars were performing well. I think we can be very happy with what we did."
Renault Sport Formula One Team equalled its best result for the third time this season as Nico Hulkenberg finished in sixth position at the Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix. Both drivers gained positions in the race. Nico started from seventh and executed a strong race to gain one position and claim eight points. The team is now one point shy of seventh in the Constructors' Championship. After a promising start to the weekend, Jolyon Palmer had a gearbox issue in qualifying which forced a gearbox change and resulted in a five-place grid penalty for the Brit. He started the race from P14 - due to a competitor also having a grid penalty - and gained one position to finish P13.
Nico started the race from P7 on his Ultrasoft (purple) Pirelli tyres, changing to a new set of new Soft (yellow) tyres on lap 11 and a set of Ultrasofts on lap 29. Jolyon started the race from P14 on his Ultrasoft tyres, changing to a new set of Soft tyres on lap 8 and a new set of Ultrasofts on lap 30.
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director: "Overall the team had a good race, making a return to the points, where it belongs, as fourth strongest in both qualifying and on race day. Nico equalled his season-best with sixth and despite a difficult first lap, he was able to come back strong with a very solid race strategy that was perfectly executed. Jolyon's results were disappointing for him and for the team. The five-place grid penalty and the results today do not reflect his strong start to the weekend. We will investigate further to see what happened with the difference in pace from Saturday to Sunday.
"I want to mention Red Bull Racing. Their race was one of contrasts, on one side Daniel Ricciardo showed solid pace for another podium but on the other side Max Verstappen was forced to retire. An electronic systems issue seems to be at the heart of this problem. I personally apologise to Red Bull Racing and more specifically to Max and his many fans who are as disappointed as we are. We will work closely with RBR to define a course of action and a roadmap to eradicate issues such as this one which meant they couldn't harness their package's potential today."
The Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps has come to end with Marcus Ericsson finishing in P16. Pascal Wehrlein had to retire from the race on his third lap, after having issues with the suspension on his car. The team is now heading to Monza to set up for the Italian Grand Prix which takes place next weekend.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "Unfortunately, the race was a short one for Pascal today. He had to retire on his third lap after having an issue with the suspension on his car. Marcus' first stints were going ok, he was fighting his direct competition - however, the last stint was disappointing. We saw that there was some damage to the car. We are now working on improving our performance for the next races."
On one of the most demanding circuits for tyres that Formula 1 visits all year, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel after what was effectively a sprint race in the final laps. The race was turned on its head by a safety car on lap 30, which have drivers the opportunity for a ‘free' pit stop. Hamilton, in the lead, ran the soft tyre for his final stint, while Vettel went for the ultrasoft: theoretically more than one second per lap faster. Up until the safety car, both were using an identical ultrasoft-soft strategy in a closely-fought battle, with Vettel making his first pit stop two laps later than Hamilton.
A different strategy was adopted by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who swapped from ultrasoft to supersoft in his first stop, then changed again to ultrasoft under the safety car to finish on the podium. Both Force Indias also ran the supersoft in the second stint.
Vettel set the fastest lap of the race - an astonishing 1m46.577s - on the ultrasoft tyres: nearly five seconds faster than the fastest race lap one year ago, set on medium tyres. After some uncertain weather earlier in the weekend, the race started with 27 degrees ambient and 34 degrees of track temperature, remaining dry throughout the 44-lap distance.
Lewis Hamilton won the race using two pit stops, having taken advantage of the safety car on lap 30 like all his key rivals. His first pit stop from ultrasoft to soft came on lap 12: he then selected softs again for his second stop, holding off Sebastian Vettel on the ultrasoft to the finish after a tight battle.
Mario Isola: "The safety car obviously transformed the race strategy by eliminating any questions of wear and degradation in the closing stages, as drivers took advantage of the neutralisation to change tyres. However, the strategic decision then remained as to which compound to choose. As has been the case all weekend, the frontrunners were very closely matched on pace. Before the safety car, it seemed that the leaders were set for a one-stop strategy on one of the toughest circuits of the year, having started the race on the ultrasoft, which made a successful debut at Spa."
