Daniel Ricciardo snatches victory from squabbling Mercedes in Spa - Rosberg and Hamilton crash, handing lead and win to Red Bull
Published by Christine
Lewis Hamilton swept into the lead of the Belgian Grand Prix off the line, but on the second lap, teammate and polesitter Nico Rosberg attempted an overtake and ended up crashing into the back of the Mercedes in front. He had to pit for a new nose, Hamilton picked up a puncture that sent him to the rear of the field. He spent the rest of the race hustling at the back, making little progress, and questioning whether he should retire the car to save the engine.
Meanwhile, Rosberg made his way back up towards the front, but couldn’t make any progress on new race leader Daniel Ricciardo, who capitalised on their misfortune. Fernando Alonso was in the fight, having recovered from a battery issue on the grid that made him almost miss the formation lap and resulted in a 5 second penalty for mechanics not clearing the way. He endured some great fighting with Kevin Magnussen, who eventually dropped out of the points after a post-race penalty for squeezing the Spaniard off track.
Kimi Räikkönen finally found some comfort in the car and battled hard to just miss out on a podium in fourth place. It was Valtteri Bottas who picked up the final trophy position.
