Hamilton cruises to Belgian F1 GP win ahead of Bottas

Lewis Hamilton sealed a commanding victory in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix as he led home a Mercedes 1-2.

The Briton led each of the 44 laps as he converted pole position into his 89th career win at Spa-Francorchamps to further extend his lead in the 2020 world championship standings.

Hamilton fended off Bottas’ attack at the start and crucially maintained his lead on the long run to Les Combes, before pulling clear of the field, eventually heading his teammate home by over eight seconds .

A fourth victory in Belgium has moved Hamilton into a 47-point lead in the championship.

Behind Bottas came Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who claimed his sixth podium finish in a row to continue his remarkable run of consistency at the start of the season.

The race was interrupted by a huge crash involving Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell on Lap 9 which brought out the Safety Car.

For the second year in a row, Giovinazzi lost control of his Alfa Romeo on his own exiting the Fagnes chicane and hit the barriers, shredding debris - including a loose wheel - across the track and into the path of the oncoming Russell.

Russell could do little to avoid hitting Giovinazzi’s errant wheel and was subsequently taken out, sending him into the barriers on the far side. Both drivers emerged from the incident unscathed.

The Safety Car prompted the majority of the field to pit for Hard tyres, as Mercedes double-stacked its drivers in order to maintain position over Verstappen.

Having aced the Safety Car restart and left teammate Bottas napping, Hamilton reported a loss of power in his Mercedes but was informed that it was just energy management related and not a concern.

Aside from that brief moment of worry, Hamilton was ultimately in a league of his own as he cruised to yet another commanding victory in F1, despite some late concerns over the state of his tyres.

Behind the top three, Daniel Ricciardo claimed a brilliant fourth place to match Renault’s best result of the season which he achieved with the same finishing position as he managed at the British Grand Prix. The Australian also picked up the fastest lap of the race on the final tour.

40 seconds off the lead came the second Renault of Esteban Ocon, who pulled off a last-lap overtake on Alex Albon’s Red Bull along the Kemmel Straight to take his best result of the season in fifth, ahead of Albon and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Pierre Gasly turned in an excellent drive to hand AlphaTauri its fourth points finish of the season on his way to eighth place, ahead of the Racing Point duo of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez who rounded out the top-10.

Daniil Kvyat beat the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen to 11th, ahead of the struggling Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, who was one of only three drivers who did not pull off a one-stopper.

After a miserable qualifying, Ferrari’s woes continued in the race as both cars found themselves squabbling with the Italian outfit’s customer teams of Alfa Romeo and Haas throughout.

Leclerc finished less than two seconds clear of Romain Grosjean, who in turn was a second clear of the sole-remaining Williams driven by Nicholas Latifi. The second Haas of Kevin Magnussen finished as the final classified driver in 17th.

FULL 2020 F1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX RACE RESULTS.