BELGIAN GP – Rosberg stays calm and collected as Spa throws up crashes and collisions!
Nico Rosberg took a victory after a chaotic Belgian Grand Prix to close the gap in the championship to his team-mate in the world championship. Rosberg managed to retain control as the drama unfolded behind him.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from the back to finish third behind the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. It was a perfect race of Rosberg as the chaos unfolded behind him. The Renault of Kevin Magnussen crashed heavily coming into Raidillon.
Magnussen came out of the top of the hill when he lost the rear of the car spinning off across into the wall shattering his car across the track. This brought the red flag out following his 150mph crash escaping with only an ankle injury.
Team principal of Renault Frederic Vasseur told Sky Sports “He looks OK and he went to the hospital to check. He had a small cut on the ankle, they did an X-Ray and it looks OK.”
“With back-to-back races it will not be easy for him or the car. We have not checked the data so far, but he took a lot of wheel spin on the kerb.”
The accident is likely to have helped Hamilton as it ment he was starting fifth when the race restarted. Also it helped him retain a nine point lead over Rosberg.
Rosberg told Channel 4 “It was a really good weekend for me, really quick in the race and feeling great. I’m very pleased with that. We started the weekend not the fastest but we pulled it all together and found the pace.”
Alonso was another to benefit from the incidents but also drove an excellent race to stay ahead of the two Williams. The McLaren finished sixth dispite the pressure from Massa and Bottas.
There was other drama’s on track as Pascal Wehrlein collided with the back of McLaren’s Jenson Button. The manor driver was trying to uncut the Englishman when he hit his rear accusing him of moving more than once to defend his position.
Carlos Sainz was another casualty as his rear tyre exploded on the Kemmel Straight sending him spinning breaking his rear wing and putting him out of the race.
While the Force India’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished ahead of the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in fifth. It was a great start with Max Verstappen and both the Ferrari’s running three abreast going into the first corner with all three driver’s gaining damage to their cars.
Kimi Raikkonen suffered a puncher during the tangle setting him up for a very frustrating afternoon. Raikkonen started swearing on team radio after the contact in the latest spat with Verstappen. It was a disappointment for the fans because the Dutch-Belgian teenager finished eleventh just outside the points.
Nico Hulkenberg equalled his best-ever result in F1 by taking fourth ahead of Force India team-mate Sergio Perez and Vettel. Hulkenberg and Alonso also had a near miss during their first pit stop.
Race Result
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