Lewis Hamilton emerged triumphant from Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday with a win from pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, leading home his title rival Sebastian Vettel in a close second. Daniel Ricciardo gave Red Bull a reason to smile after an otherwise difficult race with third place, while Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line fourth in the second Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas was fifth after slipping back late in the race, with Nico Hulkenberg sealing a fine sixth for Renault.

Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa were able to move up from their starting positions in the lower half of the grid to score decent points in seventh and eighth respectively. Esteban Ocon was lucky to hold on to ninth after a collision with team-mate Sergio Perez, and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz rounded out the points in a quiet tenth place.

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Hamilton holds on

The tight and winding nature of La Source means that accidents can always happen as the field launches from the grid, but there were no such problems this year and Hamilton was just able to hold his lead as Vettel followed close behind. Bottas also held third, while Fernando Alonso made a remarkable start further back in the McLaren, leaping from tenth to seventh even with his engine power deficit.

The end of the first lap saw Hamilton leading Vettel by just one second - the gap would stand at less than two for the entire race. It was not until lap 5 that Hamilton could open this up; at that point he was another 0.6 seconds ahead of Vettel, and the pair were already pulling away from Bottas, who found himself under pressure from Raikkonen.

As amazing Alonso dropped out of the points upon being passed by Grosjean - the Spaniard blaming an "embarrassing" lack of grunt - Max Verstappen dropped out of the race altogether after only eight laps. The engine lost drive on the approach to Eau Rouge, and the Dutchman ground to a halt on the straight in front of his astonished army of fans. He made his disappointment at yet another retirement clear on the radio.

Conquering the blisters

As the Red Bull was cleared away, the pits started to get busy, and Hamilton would soon be a visitor as his tyres were starting to blister - as were those on Bottas' sister Mercedes. He performed his undercut on Vettel on lap 13, emerging on Softs with the belief that the German had no more pace. Sure enough, the Ferrari only lasted two more laps on its current tyres before diving in for a new set, but after this it was much quicker - Vettel closed in on Hamilton dramatically.

The duel at the front was getting closer, but Raikkonen's race was going backwards behind them, as the Iceman was given a stop and go penalty for failing to slow for the yellow flags deployed upon Verstappen's exit. Although he eventually recovered, he had briefly led the race prior to this, and the event may have robbed him of a better result.

The half-distance mark arrived on lap 22, and Hamilton was instructed to hold track position as best he could, since Vettel had cut his lead to just 1.3 seconds. The chasing Bottas and Ricciardo were also speeding up, and the former posted a statement of intent by recording a new fastest lap on the 24th tour. Little did the leaders know that they would not have to wait long for another chance to attack!

Team-mates come to blows - again

Force India's Perez and Ocon had already had a brief skirmish on the first lap, which both survived, but another collision entering Eau Rouge would have more severe consequences on lap 30. As they battled in the points positions, Ocon tried a move up the inside of the Mexican, who abruptly seemed to shut the door - the result was a broken front wing for the former, and a lost rear tyre for the latter. The Safety Car was deployed as debris from the incident were cleared away; both men continued after pitting.

At the restart on lap 34, Hamilton was just able to fend off Vettel despite a charge from the German. Bottas was not so fortunate in his attempts to defend, however, and he dropped to fifth following an assault from Raikkonen and Ricciardo, who inherited third.  The new top five held station to the end of the race, with Hamilton taking the victory, narrowing runner-up Vettel's standings lead to just seven points. Ricciardo's famous grin was back after his podium, while Bottas' title hopes suffered with his own result.

Alongside Verstappen, whose failure was reported to be due to a cylinder issue, there were three other retirements. After only two laps, Pascal Wehrlein's Sauber pulled in with a broken component on his car; he was followed to the sidelines by Alonso, who slowed and retired after another painful afternoon on lap 26, and Perez, who was just two laps short of the flag when he was called to his box by his team.

Mason Hawker