F1
What we learned from Spa-Francorchamps
Romain Grosjean joined the two Mercedes drivers on the podium, while Daniil Kvyat finished fourth.
Mercedes put their Hungary troubles behind them to grab a one–two finish at the Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton's win never looked in doubt, while his team-mate Nico Rosberg had to make up ground after a poor start dropped him down the field.
The battle for the podium, however, was a much closer affair, as Sebastian Vettel suffered a tyre blowout on the penultimate lap to allow Romain Grosjean to take a well-deserved third-place finish.
Last year's race winner Daniel Ricciardo was fighting for another podium finish before a car failure, but Daniil Kvyat made a sensational late surge to pick up points for Infiniti Red Bull Racing.
Kvyat charges to fourth
Daniil Kvyat raced hard to fourth
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
On the back of his maiden podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix last time out, Daniil Kvyat drove another brilliant race to finish fourth.
The young Russian passed Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez late on in the race to move up to seventh place in the championship standings.
Unhappy anniversary for Ferrari
Ferrari celebrated their 900th Grand Prix
© Ferrari
Ferrari have been racing in Formula One since the inaugural championship season back in 1950 and the Italian marque celebrated their 900th grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Despite the celebrations, though, the Scuderia had a weekend to forget. Räikkönen was on the back foot after a loss of oil pressure in qualifying and finished the race seventh, while Vettel looked set for a podium finish before his right-rear tyre exploded with just two laps to go, leaving him in 12th.
Maldonado in the wars
Maldonado’s wrecked Lotus
© Charles Coates/Getty Images
Pastor Maldonado has built himself a bit of a reputation after being involved in numerous incidents and crashes during his career. The Venezuelan claimed during the summer break that the media was to blame for his bad image, but he didn't help himself when he stuffed his Lotus into the barrier just half an hour into Free Practice 1.
Non-stop grid drops for McLaren
”What! Another grid penalty?“
© McLaren
When McLaren signed their engine partnership with Honda, they were expecting a return to their record-breaking glory days, but sadly the only records they've been breaking are for their astronomical number of grid-drop penalties.
Numerous engine changes for both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button meant McLaren were demoted 105 places ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. Thankfully for the team they didn't have to start the race from Brussels but instead just tucked in behind the Manors.
Tyre trouble for Bottas
Having started third, Valtteri Bottas had a race to forget after a blunder in the pitlane from his Williams team. Rules state both types of tyres are to be used during the race, but during the Finn's pit stop, Williams fitted three soft tyres and one medium tyre to the car, resulting in a drive-through penalty.
Max-imum attack
Verstappen scored another points finish in eighth
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Max Verstappen proved he was a master of Spa when he won all three races there in last season's Formula 3 championship, and the Dutchman showed off his talent again in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen started at the tail end of the field after a grid penalty but fought his way up to eighth place and pulled off a breathtaking pass on Felipe Nasr in the process.