Hamilton holds off Vettel; Gets closer to F1 title

This also was also the 200th race of his career, as Lewis took his 58th career victory, his third at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and fifth of the 2017 season. His team mate Valtteri Bottas finished in fifth position. The results also marks the 71st victory for the Mercedes-AMG Silver Arrows in Formula One. Lewis is now with 213 points, while Sebastian Vettel is at 220 points.  Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport with 392 points lead Ferrari which is at 348 points by 44 points in the Constructors’ Championship. Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director, accepted the Constructors’ trophy after the race.

RACE RESULTS

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was fourth, while Nico Hulkenberg scored his third sixth place of the year for Renault, followed home by Romain Grosjean of Haas and Felipe Massa of Williams. For Force India, it was a terrible day with Esteban Ocon having survived contact with his team mate Sergio Perez not once but twice in two separate clashes on the run down to Eau Rouge. Ocon came in 9^th, while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz completed the top ten.

Ocon and Perez had rubbed wheels (and in Ocon’s case the wall) going down the hill to Eau Rouge on the opening lap. The safety car was brought out on the 30th lap when Perez had again squeezed his team mate towards the old pit wall, and they made firmer contact. Perez sustained a punctured right-rear tyre, while Ocon lost a chunk of his front wing. Perez’s car was withdrawn late in the race, joining McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Verstappen and Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein on the retirements list. Max Verstappen of Red Bull unfortunately lasted only seven laps before coasting to a halt partway up the Kemmel straight with power loss.