The 2020 World Championship will be remembered as the copy/paste season. A season where Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton turn up for every race and win. And win the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix is what Lewis Hamilton did. The problem is Hamilton makes winning look easy, having the best car also helps. Valtteri Bottas also has the best car by virtue of being Hamilton’s teammate, but this is where the dividing line is drawn between a great driver and the best driver of his generation, perhaps of all time. Hamilton surged to a comfortable victory, despite partly nursing his car throughout the race.
Bottas just couldn’t keep up, yet Hamilton could have gone quicker, but there was no need for him to do so. Maintaining a comfortable enough gap also maintains the longevity of his Mercedes. And so, Mercedes claimed yet another victory and second place for Bottas. Verstappen topped up the remaining podium position by hanging onto the coat-tails of Bottas’ Mercedes. However, the Red Bull Honda didn’t quite have enough grunt to make a serious enough challenge for second place.
Daniel Ricciardo finished secured a strong 4th place ahead of Alex Albon who got caught up in a sacrificial Red Bull tyre strategy. The race was largely devoid of on-track spectacle, the exception being Ferrari who was spectacular for not being spectacular enough. Not even by their own elevated standards. Both Vettel and Leclerc struggled in qualifying and then found time in the race to confirm how bad the 2020 Ferrari really is.
The race did have a dramatic moment, but for all the wrong reasons. Giovinazzi crashed on lap 10 on the exit of the F1 Les Fagnes corner. The Alfa Romeo spun into the barriers then bounced back onto the circuit.
The impact sheared a tyre off the suspension which bounced back onto the circuit and directly into the path of an unfortunate George Russell. Luckily the wheel collected the Williams and not Russell.
That crash brought out the safety car, but when the race resumed, Hamilton just switched on again and no one could find a way to break him. Seven races in, five wins in the bag for Hamilton. Next week is the Italian Grand Prix, and in this form, Hamilton needs only to turn up and press play.
2020 Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa Francorchamps : Race Results
Pos | No | Driver | Laps | Time/Retired | PTS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Hamilton | 44 | 1:24:08.761 | 25 |
2 | 77 | Bottas | 44 | +8.448s | 18 |
3 | 33 | Verstappen | 44 | +15.455s | 15 |
4 | 3 | Ricciardo | 44 | +18.877s | 13 |
5 | 31 | Ocon | 44 | +40.650s | 10 |
6 | 23 | Albon | 44 | +42.712s | 8 |
7 | 4 | Norris | 44 | +43.774s | 6 |
8 | 10 | Gasly | 44 | +47.371s | 4 |
9 | 18 | Stroll | 44 | +52.603s | 2 |
10 | 11 | Perez | 44 | +53.179s | 1 |
11 | 26 | Kvyat | 44 | +70.200s | 0 |
12 | 7 | Räikkönen | 44 | +71.504s | 0 |
13 | 5 | Vettel | 44 | +72.894s | 0 |
14 | 16 | Leclerc | 44 | +74.920s | 0 |
15 | 8 | Grosjean | 44 | +76.793s | 0 |
16 | 6 | Latifi | 44 | +77.795s | 0 |
17 | 20 | Magnussen | 44 | +85.540s | 0 |
NC | 99 | Giovinazzi | 9 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 63 | Russell | 9 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 55 | Sainz | 0 | DNS |