Nico Rosberg out-lasted the chaos of the first 10 laps to put on a clinic and score the victory at Spa-Francorchamps.
Going into turn 1 off the start, Kimi Raikkonen got into teammate Sebastian Vettel and sent him spinning. Raikkonen suffered damage to his front wing and was forced to pit for repairs.
One lap later, Carlos Sainz suffered a right-rear tire blowout that destroyed the rear-end of his car and sent him spinning in the chicane. This necessitated a virtual safety car period.
The race went back to green and was put under safety car conditions on lap 6 after Kevin Magnussen got loose cresting the top of Radillion, overcorrected, veered to the right, spun 180 degrees, hit one barrier rear-end first and then slammed into another head-on. Per Will Buxton of NBC Sports, Magnussen suffered only a cut to his left ankle.
After three laps of riding around behind the safety car, the race was red-flagged to repair the barrier.
The cars rolled back onto the track at 8:41 a.m. Eastern time for a lap around the track before going back to green on lap 11. At that point, the race proceeded more orderly.
There were some run ins between Max Verstappen and the two Ferrari drivers at various points with the young Dutch driver being aggressive on the defensive.
Aside from the first 10 laps, it was the standard Mercedes clinic performance for Rosberg who drove on to score the victory in the Belgian Grand Prix.
“It’s been a great weekend,” Rosberg said to a chorus of boos from the fans trackside. “Very, very happy with that result, of course. I understand that some of you are very disappointed. I understand you wanted Verstappen to be up here…You’ve been amazing to see so many of you come. It’s been very impressive to see a great atmosphere.
“Thank you to my team of course. Great car they’ve given me. Very special day.
“Oh, and congrats to Lewis (Hamilton). From last place to third must’ve been pretty impressive.”
It’s his 20th career win and 49th podium finish in 198 Formula 1 starts.
Daniel Ricciardo came home second in his No. 3 Red Bull Racing car.
As Mark Webber, who was conducting the podium interviews, proceeded to interview him, was about to repeat his actions from Germany and guzzle champagne out of his shoe again. Instead, he asked Webber to do the honors. To which he did.
“Thanks for doing that,” Ricciardo said. “I think we just made our country even more proud.
“It was pretty messed up at the start. There was a lot of safety car’s and then the red flag. We knew we had a bit of damage actually from the first corner, but we fixed the front wing and then got back out. I mean it was a race by myself, but obviously I enjoyed it the pace and to keep Lewis behind was a good achievement today.”
It’s his 14th podium finish in 101 starts.
Lewis Hamilton, who started the race from pit lane, rounded out the podium in the other Mercedes.
“Firstly, I got to say a big thank you to this crowd. It was incredible today,” Hamilton said. “I know a lot of these people came out for Max, which is amazing and is great for the sport, but I just want to say a big thank you to everyone for supporting me today. The team did an amazing job this weekend. I changed three engines. I’m actually ahead of these guys now on engines, which is a good thing. Thanks to the team. Just a remarkable day, what beautiful weather, great crowd and a great race.”
It’s his 97th podium finish in 180 starts.
Nico Hulkenburg finished fourth and teammate Sergio Perez rounded out the top-five.
Vettel recovered from his lap 1 spin to finish sixth. Fernando Alonso brought his McLaren Honda home to a seventh-place finish. Valtteri Bottas finished eighth. Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth and Felipe Massa rounded out the top-10.
Magnussen, Marcus Ericsson, Sainz, Jenson Button and Pascal Wehrlein failed to finish the race.
Hamilton leaves Belgium with only a nine-point lead over Rosberg in the drivers championship.
Next up on the Formula 1 calendar is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza next Sunday.
