Lewis Hamilton wins the Battle of the Bulge against Sebastian Vettel

After a 68th career pole on Saturday, a record Michael Schumacher equal, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) had to resist Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) this Sunday to achieve his 58th career success at Spa in Belgium.

The Briton had mastered his takeoff against the four-time world champion, resisting the SF70H on the Kemmel straight on the first lap and maintaining the gap with the German driver throughout the first stint.

The order in the leading quartet did not change at the start since Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) remained ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari). Behind the Red Bull de Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo, the big winner at the start is called Fernando Alonso (McLaren), moved up to sixth position.

But the Spanish driver will have to quickly give up positions, firstly against Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), then against the Force India of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez, who made contact in the first lap.

The peloton quickly lost the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, victim of a technical problem on his car, with a loss of power. The Dutchman was forced to stop his car at the side of the track on the Kemmel straight.

Force India restarts the race

The hierarchy was not changed after the leaders' first stops shortly after the 12th lap. Kimi Räikkönen was, however, penalized with a 10″ stop&go for not having respected the yellow flags during the evacuation of Max Verstappen's car.

On the 27th lap, Fernando Alonso (McLaren) also retired, following an engine problem, before contact between the Force India of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez do not come to relaunch the debates. The two residents of Vijay Mallya's structure collided on the descent towards Eau Rouge, Ocon breaking his front wing, while Pérez had to return in slow motion with a puncture on the right rear. The safety car is deployed to clear the track of debris.

The second pit stops are made during the neutralization, and Vettel chooses to use the ultra-soft tires, when the Mercedes put on the soft tires. On the restart, Vettel remained in Hamilton's immediate wake and shifted into the Kemmel straight.

But the German was unable to make the decisive overtake and allowed Hamilton to build a small lead of just over a second, which the Briton kept until the finish. Vettel finished second and finally preceded Daniel Ricciardo, who took advantage of the restart to pass Valtteri Bottas. The Finn also drops a position against Kimi Räikkönen, fourth at the finish ahead of the Mercedes W08.

Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) follows in sixth position ahead Romain Grosjean (Haas), Felipe Massa (Williams), Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso). Lance stroll (Williams) fails at the points gate and is ahead of Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Jolyon Palmer (Renault), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber). Sergio Pérez retired just before the finish, while Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber) was the first driver to retire at the start of the race.

Hamilton thus returns to seven points behind Vettel before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza next week.

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 44/44): A mighty showing from @LewisHamilton  #BelgianGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/H87U7OkuYK

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 27

Race ranking

Find the full report and analysis of the Belgian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Spa, in issue 2129 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.