Hamilton holds off Vettel to win Belgian Grand Prix

2017 Belgian Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix after holding off race-long pressure from championship rival Sebastian Vettel.

A late Safety Car restart gave Vettel an opportunity to pass the Mercedes, but Hamilton defended well enough to keep the lead.

Daniel Ricciardo took third for Red Bull ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.

Hamilton led away from pole, holding off Vettel, who had a half-hearted look at the Mercedes at Les Combes before settling into second.

Max Verstappen was an early retirement, losing power in his Reanult power unit at the start of lap eights and pulling off to the side of the Kemmel Straight in front of thousands of disappointed fans.

With double yellow flags along the straight, Kimi Raikkonen failed to lift off and was hit with a ten second stop-and-go penalty, taking him out of contention for the race.

Sergio Perez was given a five-second penalty for passing Romain Grosjean after running wide at Les Combes. That saw Esteban Ocon behind his team mate after the pit stops and the two team mates touched on the run to Eau Rouge, causing damage to both cars and leaving debris across the track.

The Safety Car was deployed and the front runners all dived in for fresh rubber, with Mercedes opting for Soft tyres while Ferrari fixed new Ultra Softs on both their cars.

As the race went back to green, Vettel did a good job of responding to Hamilton’s restart and kept his rival under pressure on the run up the hill. Despite the Ferrari driver’s best efforts, Hamilton was able to fend off the attack and keep the lead.

Hamilton held on for the remaining laps and took his fifth win of 2017 to move within seven points to Vettel in the drivers’ championship.

Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of the restart to take third with a great move on Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, who took fourth and fifth respectively.

Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth for Renault, ahead of Romain Grosjean in seventh, Felipe Massa in eighth, Esteban Ocon in ninth and Carlos Sainz rounding out the points in tenth.

2017 Belgian Grand Prix reaction

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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197 comments on “Hamilton holds off Vettel to win Belgian Grand Prix”

  1. qualiy mode power on the restart saved Ham there

    1. It didn’t seem to save Bottas.

      1. Hamilton still needing some bravery under braking that Bottas didn’t have. Especially against the Red Bull with it’s down force levels.

    2. Indeed. Look at how easily Bottas past Vettel in Russia and Hamilton past Vettel in Spain. Vettel is really up against it this year.

      If only Ferrari had a few more horsepower…

      1. @kingshark No thanks in that case Vettel would just walk away with it. He is leading the championship like this already.

        1. @unitedkingdomracing

          He is leading the championship like this already.

          That’s less about Ferrari and more about Vettel.

          1. @kingshark I agree with that but the same can be said about Hamilton. While Merc seem to have an engine advantage Ferrari have one on tires and maybe aero. The entire package of Hamilton/Merc and Ferrari/Vettel seem to be very evenly matched. While one package is faster on faster tracks the other is on slower ones. If Ferrari would have more horsepower that would not be the case anymore. Therefore I don’t want to change a thing at the moment.

          2. @3dom

            The entire package of Hamilton/Merc and Ferrari/Vettel seem to be very evenly matched.

            In the past 6 races, the Vettel/Ferrari package has been stronger in exactly 1 race (Hungary).

            They are in absolutely no way evenly matched, it’s only a matter of time before Hamilton pulls massively ahead in the WDC.

      2. Nonsense, the way Vettel was able to stick close to Hamilton the whole race showed that in fact Vettel had the faster car overall. He just wasn’t able to get past.

        Ferrari were unlucky that Raikkonen had issues with the tyres in Q3. He would have been more likely to get pole and then it would have been a very different race.

        1. I agree. Mercedes sacrificed some downforce for straight line speed, yet Vettel easily kept the gap constant and could easily close the gap.

        2. @patrickl
          Ferrari was not in any way the fastest car this weekend. Hamilton was as fast on softs as Vettel was on ultrasofts when the supposed tyre delta was 1.4 seconds.

          I’d love to see a shred of evidence to support your claim that Raikkonen would have been on pole without his tyre issues. All we know is that he was significantly slower than Bottas in the race.

          1. Well they were clearly the fastest on sunday.

            Hamilton wasn’t as fast as Vettel. Vettel was held up by Hamilton. Seriously, if you cannot see that then …

            Also, Raikkonen was a lot faster on the straight. Check the speed traps. That’s Vettels choice for too much downforce again. Or too low gearing. He had a lot of that at Red Bull too. And then complain the engine doesn;t cut it when he is running into his own created setup trap (rev limiter or too much drag to gain more speed).

            Raikkonen had a penalty and still he ended up ahead of Bottas. Raikkonen DID manage to drag race past Bottas. That’s exactly the point. It’s not the engine. These are pretty similar between Mercedes and Ferrari. Vettel had too much drag while Raikkonen didn’t

      3. Think you are doing Ferrari a massive disservice. Vettel should have won easily

    3. Actually Vettel himself mentioned that he had made a mistake – he got too close (because he feared not being close enough) and then couldn’t get enough of a run going to pass from that close behind.

      So maybe if Vettel had judged that one better, he would have been able to pass, just as Bottas got passed.

    4. Two of the finest drivers in two different cars with their own strengths and weaknesses staying within 2 seconds of each other for near enough the entire race, in the midst of the closest title battle in years and you’re all STILL complaining? Formula 1 fans blow my mind sometimes.

  2. Merc Pu holds off Vettel to win Belgian Grand Prix would better suit the title
    Seriously though ive never seen that sort of boost for a PU. Just shows how much and how far ahead Mercedes PU is.

    1. Merc PU didn’t seem to do the same for Bottas. Come off it.

    2. Funny that a weak Renault engine in the back of the red bull could overtake the exact same Mercedes engine in the back of the other Merc in much the same circumstances…

      But no. Definitely all engine….

      1. +1

        Hamilton detractors are hilarious at times.

    3. Vettel being right up Hamilton’s gearbox through eau rouge won’t have helped his run with the turbulent air, but once he pulled alongside, Hamilton was able to pull fully ahead again. It’s insane.

      1. If only the engine was the be all and end all. Everyone with a Merc engine would be winning races and fighting for titles. Its also funny how the other Merc driver was passed by an inferior Renault and didn’t seem to benefit from this so called “insane straight line”. You also conveniently forget that the Ferrari has been the better race car and of course, Vettel had the faster tyre. But yeah let’s just cherrypick why don’t we to suit our own agendas.

        1. In terms of overtaking and holding position, the engine is the most important factor by a mile. The Force India was the fastest car through the first sector most of the weekend, but the Mercedes does also have very good downforce which the other Mercedes cars don’t have. It’s the better overall package, and each car is better at different circuits – there isn’t a better race car of the two of them, there’s just one car is more suited to a track, although the Mercedes is undoubtedly the better qualifying car due to the engine performance in quali mode.

          1. See I would dispute this. The Ferrari has on average, had better race pace. It is an easier car to set up. It is a more consistent car to set up with a wider setup window. Hence they have not had issues like Merc have had at other tracks like Russia and Monaco. Maybe the W08 has a higher “peak” perfomance- but that peak is not accessible all of the time on different tyres and different tracks. The Ferrari has more or less the same peak perfomance- accessible most of the time on different tyres and different tracks.

            The fact is Ferrari aren’t that far behind Merc if they are indeed behind at all. And today the win was there for Ferrari on the faster ultra which negates any “theoretical insane advantage” you were referring to. But as I said, you can cherrypick all you like for your agenda.

          2. I do agree that Ferrari is more consistent, whereas the Merc is up and down – but it has been up and quicker than the Ferrari more often than it’s been down.
            And the insane advantage was referring to straight line speed – where the Merc was 10km/h faster, not ultimate car performance.

        2. Marian Gri (@)
          27th August 2017, 15:29

          Where did you get the idea Ferrari is the better car in race trim??! I have a new idea: maybe BOT is a poor driver!

          1. I wouldn’t say poor. I would say he’s just not as good as Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo or Verstappen.

          2. Or maybe VET is compared to Hamilton?

        3. It’s funny how when Vettel won races while Webber finished fifth, people fell over themselves in bestowing all the praise on those “incredible Newey rocketships”. Now all of a sudden it’s Hamilton winning races with his teammate is markedly slower and the standards change dramatically. Now it’s “What Bottas is doing is what the car is capable of and everything else is down to Lewis!”

          The fact is that this years Merc is a more dominant car than the 2010 RB.

          1. Welcome to Formula 1, especially on an English site. The majority of people on here prefer Hamilton to Vettel.

          2. And, in spite of all the arguments about which is the better car set-up,
            the fact remains that, over the past two years drivers of merc powered
            cars have often found great difficulty in climbing through the cars they
            find ahead of them if they start badly or are punished by engine penalties.
            I am not saying that is universally true. There have been occasions when
            a merc has climbed back up to the top level in a race. But track temperature,
            wet tracks, short, complicated circuits don’t seem to suit the merc chassis.

          3. Vettel was getting Schumacher-esque favouritism from his team, and the car clearly was a rocket because Webber was very often on the front row after quali. I see the situations as similar, the only difference being that both Rosberg and now Bottas are better drivers than Webber was.

          4. @Fireblade, That never happened. Webber was just as fast as Vettel for the first few seasons. It was only after the 2010 incidents that they decided to prioritize Vettel more when a small gap appeared.

            Still even then the gap was not that big as you pretend. Even while Webber never had a functioning KERS and other problems due to the way the car was designed to suit Vettel.

      2. That’s because Vettel was pulling out the slipstream and suddenly faced a lot more air resistance himself.

    4. Ferrari aero package and tyre compound advantage keep Vettel in contention with Hamilton.

      The drivers aren’t on foot so it seems redundant to bang on about the cars. Hamiltons performance today is why Mercedes have him. He gave them pole against a blistering lap from Vettel, and Ferrari had the quicker race package. I don’t think anyone else on the grid could have pulled off that braking and defence at the end of Kemmel.

    5. Seriously though ive never seen that sort of boost for a PU.

      The Ferrari engine is maybe a few horses down on the Mercedes engine. I remember the time when a Cosworth powered Tyrrell several hundreds of horses down on the Honda and TAG turbo’s still managed regular points finishes (that’s top 6, not top 10), even with a driver called Palmer.

  3. This race is the perfect demonstration why Mercedes is still comfortably the best car on the grid despite Ferrari’s race pace being roughly equal.

    For one, they are faster in qualifying, so Vettel is at a disadvantage before the race even begins. Then there’s Mercedes’ superior engine, which saved Hamilton today. Had the roles been reversed at the Kemmel straight, the Merc would’ve flown past the Ferrari easily.

    It’s closer than it has been in previous seasons, but if Ferrari want Vettel to have any chance of winning the WDC, the performance gap between the engines needs to be closed down.

    1. Mercedes got the setup spot on. They absolutely used their strength at its maximum. They went for low downforce setups on both, slightly lower on Valterri’s car though. Mercedes just know how to setup their car better than before.

    2. @kingshark well, Bottas was driving the same car around and he finished fifth.

      1. Bottas had Kimi on the inside line meaning he was sitting duck on the corner. After the overtake was done, there was no way he was coming back to get the pass on a Ferrari engined car.

      2. @abdelilah
        That’s because Bottas got bullied at wheel to wheel racing. When both Kimi and Bottas were on the same tyres, Bottas was quite a bit quicker.

    3. Then there’s Mercedes’ superior engine, which saved Hamilton today.

      When will people stop trotting out this nonsense? Why didn’t the “superior engine” save Bottas? And against an “inferior” Ferrari and Renault too? And why didn’t the “faster qualifying” Mercedes save him qualifying behind Vettel? Please!

      1. @kbdavies
        Because Bottas is poor at wheel to wheel racing, and he’s been poor this weekend in general. Hamilton is good in qualifying but Rosberg showed he’s far from unbeatable. Bottas should be doing better than Spa.

        As soon as Vettel pulled out of the slipstream, Hamilton was faster again on the straight. That was pure engine power, nothing to do with driver skill.

        1. Please make up your mind. You say

          Bottas is poor at wheel to wheel racing, and he’s been poor this weekend in general

          ….then you say…..

          Hamilton is good in qualifying

          …..then you come up with…..

          that was pure engine power, nothing to do with driver skill

          Does all that make sense to you?? Bottas was overtaken by two cars on a straights, and by one with an inferior engine. That has nothing to do with “wheel to wheel racing”. However, i understand the logic of all this escapes you, otherwise you would be saying what you are saying.

          1. @khdavies
            Bottas was overtaken in the braking zone, not on the straight. And only a fool would deny the fact that Mercedes have a superior engine. We’ve seen it properly demonstrated in Russia, Spain and now Belgium.

        2. @kingshark, Mercedes stated before this weekend that they were going with a lower downforce set up – and quite visibly were running with less wing than Ferrari – precisely because they wanted to have the opportunity to defend against Ferrari in just that sort of situation. With that, I really am not convinced that it is just “pure engine power”, much as everybody seems to want to solely ascribe the difference to that because it is a nice and easy explanation.

        3. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
          28th August 2017, 8:31

          @kingshark

          As soon as Vettel pulled out of the slipstream, Hamilton was faster again on the straight. That was pure engine power, nothing to do with driver skill.

          That’s called rear wing setting, not engine. Hamilton purposely drove slower down to the foot of Eau Rouge to bottle up Vettel behind him, preventing him from getting full benefit of the tow along Kemmel –

          “He was on the gas before me (out of the La Source hairpin). I could hear him. And then as we were going down that straight I didn’t keep it full lit the whole way. I was 90% throttle to keep him close because I knew he wasn’t going to come by because he knows I would overtake him at the top part of the straight with the tow.

          “So as we were going up Eau Rouge, that’s when I really gunned it and had maximum power and got to the top and he had no space to propel himself so he just pulled out alongside.”

          Hamilton had the spare capacity to plan how to keep a faster car at bay, that’s why he won. Had he allowed Vettel to get a proper slipstream along Kemmel, the Ferrari would have shot past.

          Ferrari was the faster car at Spa, on the radio Vettel was told that both Mercedes were blistering their tyres, his response were that his tyres were in great shape. Without the safety car, Mercedes may have had to pit Hamilton because of a developing blister in the middle of the right rear tyre, so Hamilton benefited from a bit of good fortune and a great racing brain.

          1. @thegrapeunwashed

            Ferrari was the faster car at Spa

            Haha, of course that was your conclusion from the whole thing. Vettel on US couldn’t even threaten Hamilton on softs despite the delta difference was supposed to be 1.4 seconds. Hamilton was just playing games up front, the Mercedes was clearly quicker. Bottas was also comfortably pulling away from Raikkonen around Kimi’s strongest track on equal tyres.

            Mercedes was faster in qualifying, matched Ferrari’s speed on tyres two steps harder in the race, and had far better top speed which made it impossible for Vettel to overtake. That is the definition of the best car.

            I reckon Mercedes will be the best car in all the remaining races bar Singapore. It’ll be a miracle if Vettel is still in contention near the end of the season.

            That’s called rear wing setting, not engine. Hamilton purposely drove slower down to the foot of Eau Rouge to bottle up Vettel behind him, preventing him from getting full benefit of the tow along Kemmel

            This strategy could have only ever worked if Mercedes was clearly quicker than Ferrari down the straight. If the engines were equal, Vettel would have been half a car-length ahead of Hamilton halfway down the kemmel straight in that exact situation.

            Hamilton knows the superiority of his car and engine and maximized it’s benefits. Good on him, but it wouldn’t have been possible without his clear machinery advantage.

          2. @thegrapeunwashed Wow cool how he describes that.

            It was also impressive how he managed to keep Vettel behind for La Source.

          3. @kingshark, It was not the engine, it was the drag. Raikkonen had no trouble driving past Bottas. While Vettel dropped back after he came out of the tow.

            So of course Hamilton knew he was faster on the straight. He had seen Vettel being way too slow many laps before. Yet if he had given Vettel a gap, Vettel could have closed that gap and carried more spead. Now Vettel had to comne out of the slipstream with more drag, same speed and similar engine power.

            That was the whole point of Hamilton’s strategy.

          4. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
            28th August 2017, 21:55

            @Patrickl

            It was not the engine, it was the drag.

            Patrick, yes that’s right, but I doubt you’ll convince @kingshark ! A great move from Hamilton at Eau Rouge, he simply outsmarted Vettel.

      2. Why didn’t the “superior engine” save Bottas?

        Why didn’t the “Newey rocketships” at Red Bull ever result in Webber finishing higher than 3rd in the WDC?

    4. How bout vettels superior tyre

      1. @f1fan-2000
        Those superior tyres give more grip through corners. Not on straights. And because Vettel was driving in Hamilton’s dirty air the tyre advantage was negated.

        1. I would argue that a softer tyre with a stickier contact patch would actually be slower than a hard tyre in a straight line. The difference might be negligible, nevertheless I suspect this to be true.

    5. You clearly did not watch the race properly. There were numerous graphics showing the speed dial. The high end speeds were exactly the same i had noticed between vettel and hamilton just before braking going into a corner.

    6. @kingshark this race demonstrated that Mercedes have a Saturday advantage, particularly on high speed circuits but that Ferrari have a faster race car. It was track position combined with a very diligent drive by Hamilton that kept him in front. Vettel’s package was faster today, he couldn’t have followed so closely for the whole race if it wasn’t. One mistake from Hamilton and Vettel would have won the race by several seconds. Mercedes definitely have a lot to worry about, this was supposed to be a track that suited them more.

      1. @3dom
        How did you come to the conclusion that Ferrari was faster in the race? Hamilton was just controlling the race and the final stint on the soft tyres showed just how much pace he had in reserve.

        1. @kingshark Mercedes chose a lower downforce setup so that they could defend well on the straights, to help when they are vulnerable. It was the dirty air that kept Vettel at arms length in the second sector. And Mercedes get on better on the soft tyre. A unique set of circumstances and Hamilton admitted himself that he doesn’t think he could have kept up with Vettel if Vettel were in front. I assume you’ve read the above comment by anon explaining how Hamilton defended Vettel’s best chance of a pass

          1. And as for the tyres @kingshark

            On Mercedes’ tyre decision, Wolff said: “We expected the soft to be the faster tyre for the final twelve to fourteen laps, depending on how long the Safety Car stayed out for. The ultrasofts were a good option for two laps of attack after the restrart but then not the right tyre.

            There was a limited time for which the ultras would be an advantage because of them dropping off more quickly than the softs, especially in dirty air

    7. True true, Ferrari needs to close the engine gap. It looks like they cant turn their engine a notch up where it really matters, quali and overtaking. Otherwise , that red car is a cool package.

    8. Wouldn’t say comfortably the best car by any means. Vettels Ferrari looked ominous during the race. Had he passed it woild of been game over.

  4. WTH. Seb’s tyres are steps softer and could last 20 laps. Lewis’ tyres are steps harder but lasts 30 + laps. How is this possible? We saw that having tyre advantage normally works this season. Max needs a BIG BIG BREAK after that. Anyone can find out who else has had a 50% DNF rate?

    1. @krichelle off the top of my head Kimi in 2002

    2. Actually worse

    3. Kimi.
      Retired ~59% of the races in 2002 and ~44% in 2004

      1. Yep, without those, Kimi would have been a well-deserved multiple WDC today.

        1. Marian Gri (@)
          27th August 2017, 17:14

          In 2002 and 2004??! Did he retire from leading the race?! Do not think so. Maybe in rallying he would have been multiple WDC, not F1 for sure. Not 2002 and 2004. 2002 and 2004 were the most dominant years for Ferrari.

          1. @corrado-dub yeah, but if it wasn’t for one engine blowup in 03 and two car failures in 05 (Imola and Hockenheim) he’d be 3 time WDC, i think that’s where the notion comes from

    4. Lauda, 1984 (as defending champion no less)

      1. Think you mean ’85 – Lauda won the title in ’84

        1. efffff….yeah, I totally did.

    5. Pirelli built ridiculously conservative tires. The Ultra’s should be 2-2.5 seconds faster than the softs. A driver on used softs should have never stood a single chance against a set of brand new ultra’s.

      How did Hamilton “hold off” Seb you ask…

      Dirty air.

      The single reason and if there was any race we can see how bad the wake is on these cars, the biggest fear we had as fans, is this race.

      Two evenly matched cars, the leading car on softs and the trailing car on ultra’s and the faster tire by two steps couldn’t even get within 5 tenths in racing conditions highlights how terrible the front end washes away when they follow too closely.

      Personally, I’m done after this season until (if ever) the aero comes off the cars. Perhaps it never will, but that’s fine by me, I just get proper sleep on Sunday mornings then.

      1. @boombazookajd Explain how Seb was able to follow in Australia with same tyre levels and how Lewis was able to follow in Spain with a 1 step tyre advantage and how Bottas followed Seb in Silverstone with a 1 tyre advantage. Also, how Seb followed Bottas in Russia and Austria. Oh and Lewis was on new S tyres. If Ferrari is the better car in following, Seb should have been able to get within 1 second of Lewis here especially because of the 2 tyre steps softer, unless that Mercedes was just superb here on the Softs.

        1. Marian Gri (@)
          27th August 2017, 15:04

          The Ferrari might be a better car at following, but if it’s worth 0.2sec… then it’s not helpful. We already know that usually the car behind has to be ~1sec faster to be able to overtake.

          1. @krichelle where did i say Ferrari was the better car in following? And you made my point..these cars all FOLLOWED but COULDN’T PASS.

            1. Seb coudn’t get within a second, not because of the car, or the tires but because of an active choice. He knew that being within a second and staying there, he would continually lose the tires. Overheating them and enduring too much understeer. So he, and every other driver, stuck to a 1.2 to 1.5 second gap. It’s better to hold position than to push too hard, lose the tires, lock up and go wide and lose a spot.

            2. Spa is far more impactful with the dirty air than say Australia and Russia are.

            3. Bottas followed Seb. Exactly. He followed him. He didn’t try to overtake with an advantage in tires. He couldn’t get close enough to do anything about it.

            If anything, you’ve proved my point exactly. Thank you.

            I’m not taking anything away from Merc and Lewis, he did a fantastic job all weekend. He’s a world class driver.

            I’m upset we have been robbed of an epic duel because two world champions couldn’t get close to one another by a literal wall of air, close enough to battle that is.

    6. Andrea De Cesaris.

    7. @krichelle Up until 2002 or so a 50% retirement rate was not very uncommon, but since 2005 reliability has been very good in general.

  5. Marian Gri (@)
    27th August 2017, 14:24

    U sure about this?!? Don’t believe it! I ”heard” Mercedes has problems translating the Quali speed to the race, Ferrari is the better car in race trim… bla bla bla… !!!! Or is Pirelli lying a lot and the Softs are just as fast as Ultras??! Cause that lighting fast Ferrari equipped with Ultras couldn’t even had 1 shot at overtaking a slow Mercedes equipped with Softs!

    1. @corrado-dub, and yet when Vettel and Hamilton were running exactly the same soft tyres in the previous stint of the race, Vettel was able to consistently lap at the same pace as Hamilton – how does that square with your claim that the SF70-H is so much slower than the W08?

      1. Marian Gri (@)
        27th August 2017, 17:27

        Did not get your comment 100%, but I reckon I created some confusion too. Just was ironic to unreal ideas presented by some guys, like Ferrari being the faster car in race trim, easier to set-up, better with the tyres etc etc. Anyway, it may be easier to set-up, better with the tyres… but not faster! In the end of all that matters is how fast can it go, that’s what’s winning races. That Mercedes might be a DIVA, but it’s getting PP after PP, win after win.

        Yeah, but in the previous stint they were lapping in the 1:48s/1:49s. After the SC period, HAM “suddenly” started to lap in the 1:46s on the same Soft tyre! So, yeah, VET “found” 2sec with Ultras, but so did HAM with the Softs!

        1. @corrado-dub, the point is, you have complained about Vettel being unable to catch up with Hamilton on a much softer tyre, but at the same time Vettel was in exactly the same position when he ran an identical tyre compound in the previous stint.

          If the SF70-H was that much slower than the W08, as you seem to be claiming it was, when both drivers were running on the soft tyres, shouldn’t Vettel have begun to fall back from Hamilton in that stint?

          To me, it feels more like the two cars were reasonably evenly matched over the lap, but were deriving their performance from different parts of the track (Hamilton, having trimmed the wings out, made up time in the first and last sector, whilst Vettel, on a higher downforce set up, made up time in the middle sector).

          The problem for Vettel was that the two sectors where overtaking is most likely to occur – the first and last sectors – where were Hamilton had a slight advantage due to his set up, and where Vettel’s tyre advantage had less of an effect as there are fewer corners where mechanical grip would be that important.

    2. Vettel said his ferrari was the faster car this race. Is he a liar?

      1. Marian Gri (@)
        28th August 2017, 7:09

        No. But the Quali showed different tho. May have been the faster car in the actual race, but it was marginal. And these days it doesn’t even matter if it’s 0.2sec/lap faster ’cause it’s like impossible to overtake on most tracks. So, yeah, everything was mostly decided by the faster car in Quali – Mercedes – and the order after turn 1. Also, as seen in FPs and Quali, the fact that HAM was the fastest driver on Softs by a very big margin (VET’s best time on Softs was like 1.5sec slower than HAM’s) was very important, as the final part of the race showed. HAM could equip his car with Softs and still keep behind without much problems that Ferrari on Ultras.

        1. The fact is, Vettel had one mega chance to overtake Hamilton and he blew it. Or rather, Hamilton masterfully ruined Vettel’s attempt while Vettel fell for it hook line and sinker.

          Look at how easily Bottas was overtaken in the same situation.

          Vettel gambled on pole and that his high downforce setup would keep him in front. He gambled wrong.

          You can’t compare laps done on softs when the stints are half a race apart. That’s a lot of fuel less to carry around. Vettel was clearly faster than Hamilton since he could easily keep up. He couldn’t go any faster because his high downforce setup meant he had a very low straight line speed. 6 km/h slower than Raiklonen.

          Vettel did have the faster car for the race, but he simply did not get the job done where he should been able too. Which is why he looked so upset at the end of the race. He knew he was beaten by Hamilton. That hurts.

  6. Searing pace by Hamilton on the softs there, great win under pressure. I thought Vettel had him with the ultras but clearly not. I see the haters are out of the blocks early giving excuses about “Merc’s PU” yet Bottas had the same and conveniently ignoring that Vettel was on the faster tyre with the better race car. I guess just like there are Vettel haters there are Hamilton haters. Just no convincing either bunch.

    Now a word on the Red Bull boys. What is going on actually reminds me of 2012 at Mclaren. Daniel RIC is ahead on the points despite being outdriven by Verstappen this season. Motorsport can be cruel.

    1. Now a word on the Red Bull boys. What is going on actually reminds me of 2012 at Mclaren. Daniel RIC is ahead on the points despite being outdriven by Verstappen this season. Motorsport can be cruel.

      Yes but he needs to “outdrive” him for more than a couple of laps. Until then Ricciardo is proving to be the better driver, DR is where he needs to be at at the right time. That’s why he gets to see the checkered flag more than Verstappen.

      1. So DR knows which of the engines will fail within 10 laps and gets to choose? Have you watched any races this year at all?

        1. Lol DR is a better driver he looks after his equipment obviously,which enables him to finish. That is the first job of a driver isn’t it?
          Or are you suggesting MV is being given duds?

          1. So you are saying Verstappen is at fault for mechanical failures. Source please.

  7. That Mercedes in insane in a straight line. The fact that Vettel couldn’t stay alongside him, even after having the slipstream, is ridiculous. And then he was in the dirty air, which meant he couldn’t break into the 1 second window, as we’ve seen at many races this year – and at Spa, we can’t even really put it down to the track layout like we could at say Hungary – this track is one you should be able to overtake on. I think that we really need to find a way to keep the lap times we have while still being able to have close racing, although that will be very difficult I know. There was a bit of a difference between the ultra soft and soft, as whenever Vettel dropped back a bit he then was faster on the next lap, but then ended up back in the dirty air. Worth noting, we see more racing lower down the field as those cars have less downforce and are giving off less turbulent air than the Mercedes and Ferrari’s. Still though, Hamilton did well to keep cool under the pressure from Vettel.
    Hulkenberg did a great job to get 6th – quicker than the Force India’s on raw race pace, which was very good to see.
    Talking about the Force India’s, what is Perez doing… Made contact with Ocon twice that race, he’s clearly getting flustered by his younger team mate being as quick as him in his first full season, but that was stupid to just give your team mate no room whatsoever. You could argue Ocon should’ve backed out, but he was clearly a bit alongside, as they made contact, so Perez should’ve given him the space. Force India keep saying that they let them race, as they should, but imo they should fine the driver at fault if they make contact in a race, to keep them a bit more under control. It’s very silly, and Perez is ruining his reputation and chances of a top drive imo.

    1. With Ferrari confirming the seats, Perez knows his opportunity at a top car is practically gone. Ocon has the pace and in his first year, he is able to deliver the results. His frustration as not being able to consistently beat his teammate despite being the senior driver is getting to him and resulting in the on track collisions.

    2. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 14:41

      Yup. When I saw that Mercedes is 10km/h faster than Ferrari on the straight, started to have doubts Ferrari will win it. With 10km/h more it’s like a win-win situation for Mercedes: significantly higher top speed means Mercedes has big chances at overtaking at the end of the straight, but also big chances at keeping the others behind.

      1. @corrado-dub last time i was watching the race, merc and ferrari hitting same top speeds at corners and straights before braking points… not sure where you saw 10kmh difference? only difference is cornering speeds before straights… and they were very marginal and exchanged… and ferrari set the fastest lap with vettel 2-3 laps before final lap… where did you see those differences?

        vettel only pulled along side because of slip stream, and after pulling along side, he couldnt go any faster so they were evenly matched!

        1. @mysticus Vettel was in Hamilton’s tow all race long. The speed trap figures in qualifying (when both were using DRS) indicated that both Mercedes’ had something like a 7 kph top speed advantage over the Ferraris, as Mercedes were running less downforce.

          1. @f1infigures good observation, but people attribute that to merc engine instead of aero config. the machines are almost identical now. and merc engine/aero seems harder to config or prone to certain conditions which advantages the ferrari (stable) in the tech but drivers make up the last inches of calculations… people always say it is merc and not ham that wins the races… if he wins it is due to his machine, if he loose it s bcoz he doesnt have skills… lol u get my point.

            also both bot and ham has same machine, but bot got passed by redbull and ferrari easily, but vettel’s superior drive didnt save them due to driving style differences. it was great racing at the front and no hunky panky moves from the front runners

        2. Marian Gri (@)
          28th August 2017, 7:22

          Well, the top speed sheet showed that difference: almost 10km/h between HAM and VET (I don’t care about BOT and RAI). The Ferrari drivers weren’t even in the top10 regarding the top speed if I remember well. AFAIK the car set-up remains the same for the race, no? So, if Ferrari didn’t change the set-up over night to increase the top speed OR Mercedes to reduce it… that Mercedes still significanly faster on the straight. As F1 in Figures underlined, must have been the tow HAM gave to VET ’cause Ferrari was nowhere near Mercedes in the FPs and Quali regarding the top speed.

      2. @corrado-dub You remember wrong. “Mercedes” was only 1km/h faster than Raikkonen. Yet Vettel was much slower than Raikkonen. That’s Vettel’s own fault/choice.

        1. Marian Gri (@)
          29th August 2017, 6:52

          Yeah, right, but the speed trap detection point is not at the end of the Kemmel straight anymore!! BOT hit +340km/h, HAM +339km/h, VET +331km/h. I knew I saw something…

    3. Hulkenberg put in a great performance today – you must be happy!

      1. Yep, definitely, especially after Hungary where he put in a good performance (was 6th/7th fastest most the race) and came away with nothing for various reasons – good to see him back getting the result he deserves. Although, he has now overtaken Sutil for the most entries without a podium!

    4. Sviatoslav (@)
      27th August 2017, 15:09

      @hugh11 – Mercedes was faster than Ferrari on the straight simply because they had smaller rear wing.
      Hulk – yeah, he was great. So was Ocon, only Perez disappointed… that was reckless driving.
      The first incident between Perez and Ocon was more or less okay given this was the first lap, but the second one…
      I mean, you have entire track on the left, but you push your teammate in the wall. Coward.

    5. Looks more like Ferrari opted for a quicker race laptime while Mercedes made sure they had less drag on the straight.

      Same thing with Alonso in his McLaren. He had a high downforce setup which meant he looks great in the corners and during quali they can use DRS to minimize the drag. So he got a great qualifying result, but during the race he indeed embarrassed himself.

      This all has nothing to do with engine power, but more with aero setup choices made.

      Besides, Hamilton was defending superbly and didn’t put a foot wrong all race while going flat out against a car that was in essence faster than his over a whole lap.

      That restart was masterful too. Even though in the end Vettel could easily catch up on his better tyres, but still his advantage ran out at the end of Kemmel and then it was over.

      1. @patrickl If that’s true Alonso should have gone for a low-downforce setup as Ricciardo in 2014.
        I believe his top speed in qualifying wasn’t too bad. He was one of the few drivers to be slower in the speed trap in the race than in qualifying, which suggests the engine wasn’t working properly.

        1. @f1infigures In qualifying they have DRS whenever they like. So then the high downforce setup doesn’t hurt so much as it does during the race.

          Too much downforce creates exactly this problem.

          1. @patrickl True, but the speed trap was before the DRS zone, so that shouldn’t matter. In qualifying Alonso was doing alright in the first sector (9th fastest) and his top speed was 310.5 kph, which was comparable to that of Grosjean (311.1 kph), yet Grosjean flew past at the beginning of the Kemmel straight in the race. Either there was a problem with the engine, or the engine is so much weaker in race trim.

  8. Quality racing by Hamilton. Surprised to see the Ferrari pace but even then it was not enough and by the look of it, Vettel does not seem to be too happy. How many modes does the Mercedes factory engine team have!! Even with soft tyres, there was tremendous pace. While Ricciardo was the big winner, Bottas and Perez were among the losers.

    1. Even with soft tyres, there was tremendous pace

      Not from Bottas, there wasn’t. People keep talking like there was only one Mercedes car in this race.

      1. The way it looked there was only one Mercedes car and Hamilton was driving it. Bottas should have been able to keep up with the Ferrari and had it been someone other than Vettel, it might have happened. It seems so and it was mentioned in the commentary as well….Bottas does not cope well at the start with heavy fuel loads. But the restart was too bad or is it Ricciardo that made it look good (albeit with a supposedly faster tyre)?

      2. Marian Gri (@)
        27th August 2017, 14:50

        Maybe BOT is not a great driver…

        1. Or maybe Hamilton is exceptional (along with Vettel this year, and the luckless Verstappen) while Rosberg was better than a lot of people would admit. That’s how I see it anyhow.

      3. It was the dirty air more than the soft tyre that kept Vettel at bay – and kept Bottas at bay from Raikkonen, and Raikkonen away from Ricciardo – whenever they got to within 1.2s of the car in front, they just couldn’t keep it there, especially through the middle sector

      4. Bottas was running in Dirty Air of the Leaders ahead.. Hamilton was in the clean up front.. We all know how mercs become vulnerable while following other cars this year… That explains the pace diff between Hamilton and Bottas.. and bottas in general didnt feel comfortable whole weekend unlike Hamilton who was happy with his machine..

    2. The secret is called “dirty air”

    3. Also Magnussen lost out today, what otherwise until his puncture after the SC appeared to be a mega double point harvest race for the Haas team! Talk about being unlucky, as Magnussen was even ahead of Grosjean after his rocket start.

  9. Huge response from Lewis there at the end, I really thought Seb was goi g to get the win. The toe this year seems so much more than previous years, especially so seeing Alonso using the tie to dramatically over take the Hulk.

    Sad for max

    Ferrari have some work to do.

    1. I do feel Ferrari have made a step forward, I did expect the disadvantage do be much greater. This is good for the rest of the season, I guess.

    2. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 14:53

      What’s new?! Ferrari has work to do since the start of the season, when Mercedes was getting Pole Position after PP.

  10. Hey guys, can someone clarify the whole Perez – Ocon saga for me?
    It seems that the team has almost always chosen Checo over Ocon in strategy, even on days or even weekends where the frenchman is faster.
    I thought the team strategy was the trigger for what happened later, not the first time this year.
    And in the incident, I do fault Checo more than Ocon, since he didn’t leave enough space.
    Poor from the team, and, to a lesser extent, from Checo.

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      27th August 2017, 14:38

      Didn’t get that either. They implied it was because of the 5 sec penalty, that it wouldn’t make a difference in the end.

    2. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 14:55

      Maybe it’s the sponsors Checo brought to the team…

    3. They pitted Perez so he could be ahead of Grosjean since he had a 5 second penalty, but he had a very strong Pace and managed to undercut the 8 sec deficit to Ocon, Ocon got angry about being behind Perez, an Ego fight took place and Both ruined their races, Perez could have let more space, Ocon could have just waited for Kemmel straight instead of that very compromising atempt. Both drivers have a huge Ego, dissapointing behavior, but lets note that all this never happened with PER-HUL.

      1. Leaving the contact aside, Ocon must ask himself how he could be behind Perez when he is in front of him before the stop and Perez has 5s penalty. Perez only stopped a lap earlier getting undercut by 5+s is crazy.

    4. Checo brings the cheques. That’s the basic explanation.

  11. That was ALL Hamilton. The team tried to give it away, but Lewis said watch this.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th August 2017, 17:26

      yep, how many times have we seen Lewis do that in the races? I think Lewis enjoyed the challenge so much especially since he could outpace Vettel even more but the tyres started overheating.

      Vettel was in shock on the podium – reminded me of Federer losing 6-0 6-0 6-0 against Nadal at Roland Garros. Fortunately for Federer (and myself since I’m a fan of both Federer and Nadal in that order 55/45), clay was just 1 surface in tennis.

  12. Mercedes boost, everyone?? Seemed more down to gearing to me IMHO.

    1. Perhaps gearing too yes. I would bank it more on aero setup though. Ferrari seemed to have more downforce and hence more drag. Which made them faster in the twisty bits yet lose out on top speed.

      It was amazing how easily Vettel could stay close to Hamilton though. He must really have had a lot of pace in hand. If he had gotten past Hamilton, Vettel would have quickly disappeared beyond the horizon.

      1. more on aero setup though.

        and that

      2. They both (vet/ham) had almost identical top speeds and hitting apexes at same speeds… vettel only could pull along side with slip stream but without it, neither was gaining anything hence no overtake! Vettel seemed to match ham’s pace due to better grippy tyres, but even that was not enough… ham didnt put a foot wrong!

        1. @mysticus, It’s not easy to go faster when you have a car right in front of you though…

          Vettel was slow on the straight (much slower than Raikkonen too), but he gained that and more in the twisty sections. If you are driving a slower car you cannot stay close to the car in front so long and so easily.

  13. Absolutely brilliant drive from Hamilton! Nothing can take this away. What a drive! Made it happen against the odds.

    1. i honestly didn’t think he was going to win once vettel put on the new set of ultras.

      1. @lucifer Exactly! I though the same would happen to Hamilton as what happened to Bottas.

        The guys behind get a tow, while you are on less grippy tyres (with warming up problems too) and therefore the exit speed from a corner will be lower.

        Hamilton was lucky that Vettel fell for his strategy and was forced to come out of the sliptstream way too early. But then Hamilton knew where Vettels weak spot was (too much donforce and resulting low straight line speed). So it’s hardly luck I guess.

    2. What odds? He qualified first and never trailed. A well-deserved win, but hardly surprising.

      1. Surprising given Vettel was on the faster tyre.

  14. Vettel himself told that he couldn’t overtake on the restart because Hamilton lift before Eau Rouge to let him come close and because of that he had to get out of the tow earlier, so no pass. But yeah, it’s only engine, it’s only the car. Bottas wasn’t able to come close to Rai after losing position. But yeah, it’s only the car. Hahaha pathetic.

    1. Please tell them, as i’m unable to understand that logic either.

    2. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 14:58

      Who said it’s ONLY the car?!?! Then… BOT who??! Who’s BOT??!

    3. Pretty smart move for a driver often derided as “not smart”. Lifted to force Better out of the slipstream! “Ballsy” and very smart.
      All about the engine indeed!

      1. The tactical “lift” didn’t achieve anything. Hamilton was able to protect his position by darting to the inside at the last moment much like Verstappen has perfected.

        Then thanks to the straight line advantage of the Mercedes he was able to keep his car ahead of Vettel for the remainder of the straight.

        1. What are you on about? Hamilton was on the right side covering the inside line miles before the braking zone.

          1. if your glasses cover everything else but ham, you would only see ham’s car faster rather then his skills outpaced vettel… if he says ham lift off, it must be an incredible vision and compute power at 317kmh!

          2. @mysticus Maybe you can try that in English?

          3. ok mr miyagi

    4. Just like you I think it’s the car.

  15. Really disgusting move from Perez. The first one I can forgive because he was in the middle of a 3-wide and Ocon probably shouldn’t have put his car there, but the second incident was really stupid. Pushing your teammate into a concrete wall on a straight is unacceptable, I thought he’d gotten past these kind of moves.

    I’m even more surprised he wasn’t punished for it, that’s lax from the stewards. If anything deserves penalty points it was that move.

    1. In his interview with Channel 4, Sergio took full responsibility for the first incident and seemed quite apologetic for both incidents even though he appeared to put more of the blame towards Esteban for the second one.

      My take – both incidents were racing incidents, the difference being that both drivers were to blame for the second incident rather than neither driver in the first incident. Regarding the second incident also, I probably would shift more blame towards Checo, but Esteban’s run out of the La Source hairpin wasn’t good enough to get him ahead before Eau Rouge. Racing drivers just don’t lift.

      1. @brickles
        I’ve only seen it once but I think Ocon’s run was at least good enough to get alongside into Eau Rouge, possibly get his nose ahead too. It doesn’t make any sense for him to make the move otherwise, he’d be better off sitting behind and getting the slipstream. It’s unimportant though, Perez saw him coming and he should have either closed the door earlier or left him space, not sit in no-man’s land and – being generous – make no attempt to avoid an accident.

  16. Sviatoslav (@)
    27th August 2017, 14:59

    Hamilton was great. Only thanks to Hamilton Mercedes has won the race.
    What Alonso did on the start… incredible fight for the top-7. I can’t understand how Ocon, Hulk, and Alonso didn’t kick out each other in one corner. That was an immensely beautiful fight.

    1. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 15:18

      Really hard to say, I have doubts VET (or anybody else) would have been able to overtake that Mercedes on-track, no matter who would have raced it. In my opinion the Qualifying positions and the order after 1st corner mattered most. Not saying HAM wasn’t great and he didn’t deserve the win, but the car is a little monster too and these rules (dirty air, hard to overtake etc etc) also helped.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        27th August 2017, 15:35

        @corrado-dub yeah but the Red Bull and Ferrari both passed the 2nd Merc which couldn’t mount a counter-attack so the only difference in the equation was Lewis and 16.5 seconds.

        I can assure you Lewis would have been 1-2 seconds quicker in the Ferrari with Ultras vs Softs. At the very least he would have been on top of Vettel’s rear wing. Without aero deg, he would have passed him 10 times.

        1. @freelittlebirds
          Like he did in Hungary?

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            27th August 2017, 17:02

            That was Merc vs Ferrari on same tyres IIRC… Did you see where Bottas was during that race?

            Still very impressive that Hamilton could keep up with the mighty Ferraris… Passing them on same tyres requires different regulations…

            And before you say that Bottas isn’t quick, he would have a great chance of beating Vettel and Ricciardo on the same team on pace alone (kinda like Raikonnen crushed Vettel at the end of 2016 even though he had fewer points). So he’s a top 5 or top 10 driver in F1 and up there with Vettel and Ricciardo.

            Of course, he looks really bad against Lewis but then again who doesn’t? :) Unfortunately all the champions and legends turn into Formula 3 drivers when the going gets tough against Lewis. It’s like playing Nadal on clay – you could theoretically win 1 game but even then it’s probably cause you got really lucky on a couple of points…

  17. Those of us who paid attention to the coverage yesterday and today will be aware that Mercedes setup their car differently to the Ferrari with a lighter wing and they actually talked about how this would set them up for defence and attack on the race. In combination with the strength of the Merc PU and Hamilton this made it very challenging for Vettel in a Ferrari setup with a MORE DOWNFORCE to get near Hamilton on the straights.

    To state this race victory is solely down to the Merc PU is a narrow view not based on observable fact.

    1. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 15:21

      Who said it’s only the PU?!? Some other teams have it and they didn’t perform very well, the next Mercedes powered car getting only low points.

      1. @corrado-dub, at the moment, I’d say at least half of the posters on this thread are claiming that it was down to the engine…

      2. Who said it’s only the PU?!?

        @corrado-dub apparently not you (long may that last), but the comments here are, err……

    2. That is what I have been saying.. Mercedes know how to setup their car better and more for the race without sacrificing their qualifying pace. Power unit only is absurd and deluded. Mercedes knew what they were doing. Valterri and Lewis were running low downforce setups, albeit lesser on Valterri’s car, which I think made him struggle a lot.

      1. This is wrong Mercedes were not running low downforce, they simple do not have the downforce to pile on like Ferrari or Redbull and still be quick on the straights hence why they struggle at places like Monaco Hungary and the likes.

    3. Agreed, the setups makes sense in terms of defence and attack for Merc and Ferrari respectively. Only “attack” meant staying with the Mercs – not so easily passing them. You can see Seb waited for the slightest slip-up from Lewis, but that never happened. HAM driver of the day – Seb is consoled by a good performance, but ONLY a win in Monza will really redeem him.

  18. Lewis learnt from 2012 ‘tweetgate’ where he compared his high downforce set-up, good in sector 2, with Jenson’s low downforce set-up that got him pole and the race win.

    Even if Seb had managed to pass Lewis, he would have been taken on the next lap because Mercedes ran a low downforce set-up [for Lewis’ car at the least]. That top speed margin was crucial, overtaking in sector 2 is rare, you need to be able to attack and defend on the Kemmel if two cars are close, that’s Spa in a nutshell.

    1. Marian Gri (@)
      27th August 2017, 18:41

      +1

    2. Wrong, if Vettel had gone past, he would have used the pace more than being limited to what Hamilton was doing ahead of him.

    3. @frasier I agree with Rockie. It’s more likely that Vettel would have disappeared over the horizon.

  19. The second tango between Perez and Ocon would’ve been avoided if FI came up with a sensible strategy for pitstops.

    1. @mxmxd Perez has 5s penalty to serve. Still getting undercut by that margin only means Ocon is a lot slower than Perez, which proved by Perez posting purple middle sector after he pitted. Ocon also behind Hulk before the stop and he got relatively clear air so no excuse for getting back behind Perez.

  20. Heroic victory by Hamilton with the fastest car and significant straight line advantage.

    Even with a slipstream all the way from the exit of La Source, through Eau Rouge, Raidillon, all the way along the Kemmel straight, Vettel still couldn’t his nose ahead of Hamilton.

    Well done to Mercedes. They build an incredible car.

    Rosberg won Spa last year, Hamilton’s turn this year.

  21. Other than Monaco and Hungary Mercedes had a better car both in the race and q.if you go to a race you ca feel it in your chest(the engine sound) when Mercedes passes by that it has a lot more power.

    And i’m a vettel fan but ricciardo and max would have won the drivers c by now if they were driving for Mercedes or ferrari.

    1. A Mercedes driver has won the last 3 championships so I can’t seem to understand your point, at what point would they have won in the Ferrari?

  22. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    27th August 2017, 15:29

    Legendary drive from Hamilton. I believe Hamilton’s talent is the only reason that Mercedes is leading the WCC and close to the WDC. This would have been a Ferrari “clinic” on Mercedes were it not for Lewis. Lewis is in a Formula category of his own. Maybe 2-3 drivers will ever belong there over the course of the century.

  23. Just might point out incredible Daniel seems to be with late braking. His ballsy braking around the outside of Kimi and Valterri was superb. In recent years he’s established himself as the best in the world at the timing of his late braking on overtakes.

  24. I hope they bring ricciardo and max to Mercedes and Ferrari because this lame formula is only fun for Hamilton fans.

  25. Oh my all these snowflake tears taste like champagne ahahaha, so now its the engine that saved Lewis, next week it will be the aero, following that is will be Zeus himself that gives lucky Lewis Hamilton these victories, I’m sorry but no excuses will be accepted today, Lewis was able to defend against Vettel using his skill, not his engine, ask Bottas if you’re not sure hahahaha, a long straight, a slip stream, and a tyre advantage of ultra soft vs soft and Vettel couldn’t get it done. He himself said he made a tactical error being too close at the start of the straight, Lewis also said he deliberately judged how close he wanted Vettel to be at Eau Rouge to set up the exact scenario that played off at the end of the straight, but no, let’s not listen to them, let’s listen to the snowflakes and that know that Hamilton is a bum that lucked into a spaceship while Vettel is stuck in a Prius. HA!. Losers.

  26. I dont know why many are surprised that Lewis kept the Ferrari behind whilst on slower tires. It has nothing to do with a Mercedes “engine mode” or whatever people are bandying about out there. It is more to do with a combination of issues – the most important being an entity of flesh and bone driving the car called Lewis Hamilton.

    If anyone remembers correctly, he did the same thing against his teammate Nico Rosberg at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2014, and won the thrilling race, prompting the pundits to speculate in awe how he was able to do so on slower tires.

    Point is, Mercedes knew if anyone cold make that strategy work at Spa, it is Lewis Hamilton.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th August 2017, 17:17

      @kbdavies yes, I believe the only reason Mercedes is leading the WCC and challenging for the WDC is Lewis. They could have been 50 points behind easily. He would have had 7 wins this season out of 12 races but he lost 2 races because of Mercedes.

      The Ferraris could and should have won 8 out of 12 of those races if they didn’t have Lewis there.

      1. Could and should if they didn’t have ? Really smart.

        Mercedes could and should have every victory and would have with ricciardo which is a far better driver than Lewis.anyway he’s driving in Monaco was at amateur level.

        Rosberg was mediocre and Lewis struggled with him.and so was button .
        And vettel didn’t have such an op car when he became 4 times wc like Lewis has from 2014 to 2016 but every Lewis fan was screaming it’s the car in vettel’s case.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          27th August 2017, 19:47

          I actually somewhat agree with you even though that’s not what you were going for but somehow ended up there – everyone is mediocre in F1 when you compare them to Lewis:-) It’s like comparing any tennis player on clay to Nadal.

          1. nadal is on another level when it comes to clay.

        2. Yeah, ric is a kangoroo jack

  27. I am deeply impressed by Hamiltons focus attitude and determination after the race…

  28. Eight teams ranked in the top ten! Thats good.
    Miss Sauber is not a novelty, it was always a modest team, but the absence of McLaren is already embarrassing.

  29. A positive thing for Ferrari to take out of this race is how close they are to the Mercedes cars. We all know the an overwhelming majority of the remaining circuits are fast paced and thus suit Mercedes, but the fact that Ferrari was able to stay so close shows that they are really on top of their game.

    Spa is perhaps the most Mercedes-leaning track in the second half of the season, right up there with Monza, and Ferrari went on the attack. The race next week should also be hard for them, but never underestimate the tifosi crowd. Singapore should be Ferrari territory. Brazil, USA, and Abu Dhabi has a little bit of everything, so one can never know. And while Japan and Malaysia has long straights and fast corners, they also reward good aerodynamics, which Ferrari seems to be on par or better than Mercedes.

    Vettel also seems very confident around many of the remaining tracks, especially in flyaway races. Despite the popular belief that the RB09 was made by God and Webber was driving with only 1 hand on the steering wheel, Vettel’s 9-win streak in 2013 indicated how he could perform consistently at a high level in the later part of the season. Expect him to have more of an impact, especially on circuits where Ferrari can find places to make gain (like the twisty last section in Mexico).

    Personally, I still think the championship is Mercedes’ and Hamilton’s to lose. But so many times this season we’ve given the championship to Mercedes only to be surprised by Ferrari the following race, even the following day in the same weekend. This season’s not over yet, at least not in the Driver’s Championship.

    1. Still think the WDC is over. I mean Hamilton could’ve put on hard tyres under that car if you saw this deployment.
      Although Vettel suprised me as Hamilton’s tactics during the restart were somewhat dirty. Heard no radio complaining whatsoever. They’re closer but we’ll never know the clear air delta with VET 2nd stop, so let’s draw conclusions? Nope. Although I’d admit if VET will stay this close the whole race at Monza I’ve been wrong.

      What we do know is that Ocon and Perez are trying to steal the ”worst teammates” of the year award of Toro-Rosso.
      Horrible. Any new owners should get them out.

      Then again DRS was perfect today, not too strong, but fine enough. It aided but didn’t kill the skill involved.
      Lewis his defending at the restart was very well done. Absolute masterclass. Driver of the weekend confirmed.

  30. This comment thread is pretty depressing. If only we could celebrate Hamilton and Vettel for the great drivers they are, instead it’s all about the engine despite the performance of their teammates. This is a great season we are witnessing with almost flawless driving, but man alive the comments are so negative!

  31. Cutting all the technical differences between Ham Vet, Mercedes and Ferrari out, I was expecting a pinned on Silverstone like Merc dominance this weekend, clearly Ferrari are a lot closer than toto was expecting, in what was supposed to be a Mercedes track. That along with the fact that they are still behind in the driver’s championship doesn’t bode well for Mercedes for the rest of the season, given what’s left to race on this year.

    1. The reason Merc dominated Silverstone was because Ferrari messed that one up so much. Of course Hamilton was slightly faster than Raikkonen, but it wasn’t by that much. Only when he blew his tyre could Bottas get into P2.

      Vettel had a bad Q3 and a bad start. That was pretty much race over for him, but that was all his own doing.

  32. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    28th August 2017, 1:13

    A lot of people are asking what was wrong with Bottas, I think Lewis answered it perfectly in his podium interview. He said had he been behind Vettel it would have been hard to keep the pressure on Vettel as the Ferrari was likely the better car, which is likely why Bottas has trouble keeping up to Seb.

  33. Ham did a fantastic job to keep that Ferrari behind him. Had Vettel passed it would of been game over i reckon. 2 quality drivers at their best

  34. Spare me all this merc vs ferrari stuff, the driver who should be winning races and be in the spotlight is a certain fernando alonso, this guy is the best driver on the grid, enough said, i know im gonna be speared now xd

    1. He used to be the best. Not anymore.

    2. @ramysennaf1 Even when Hamilton was still a rookie, he beat Alonso. That was against Alonso in his prime while Hamilton has only gotten better since then.

      1. He s still as good as hamilton only if he had a merc or a ferrari

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