Lewis Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix: Briton takes sixth victory of the season to extend championship lead

Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix without much trouble from anyone on the grid. Nico Rosberg had to fight his way through the field, after dropping to fifth after the start, to finish second, with Romain Grosjean taking Lotus' first podium since the United States Grand Prix in 2013.

Hamilton is now 28 points ahead his teammate after executing a perfect two-stop strategy that saw him maintain a comfortable gap to Rosberg in the second stint after the German had closed it down to 2.5 seconds after the first round of pit-stops.

Grosjean put in a good drive from ninth on the grid after a five-place drop. He showed some good pace in his second stint on the soft tyres coming through the field and was granted third place when Sebastian Vettel's tyre blew out on the penultimate lap. Ferrari took the gamble to finish the race on a one-stop strategy, which eventually saw the German finish in 12<sup>th.

Daniil Kvyat put in one his best drives as he carries on from his podium in Hungary to finish fourth after great strategy call from the Red Bull Racing team. They kept him out on a long stint on the medium compound tyres after his first stop and then unleashed him with a set of options in the end.

Force India's Sergio Perez put in a good shift to finish fifth, despite his early pace suggesting a better result. Massa was the highest placed Williams as they achieved another double points finish as Valtteri Bottas finished in ninth place, despite starting in third place

It was a disappointing drive for the Finn, who struggled to match the pace of the other Mercedes powered cars, with even the Renault powered cars breezing past the struggling Willams.

The other Finn on the grid Kimi Raikkonen endured a mixed day, as a gearbox problem saw that he started 16<sup>th, but he managed to make his way through the field into the points fairly early in the race, but struggled to match the pace of the Mercedes-powered cars ahead of him eventually finishing seventh.

Vettel's tyre blow out in the penultimate lap brought the race alive when the drivers fighting for places from fifth to tenth juggled for places as they tried to negotiate the slow moving Ferrari, Max Verstappen, who was in eighth made a move made and almost succeeded, on Kimi at the end of the Kemmel straight, but overcooked it to give the place back to the Finn.

The Sauber team, who came to the track with upgraded engines from Ferrari, struggled to match the pace set by the Mercedes and Renault cars, But Marcus Ericsson managed a point owing to the retirements of Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenburg, Pastor Maldonado and Carlos Sainz.

The Australian, who won last year's race, was going good in fourth place when a suspected hydraulics failure saw him park up on the final turn, while Nico Hulkenburg failed to start the race owing to loss of power in his car, which saw him stall on the grid following the first formation lap.

Maldonado's retirement count for the season is on the rise, as he coasted his car back to the pits after just one lap. Sainz, on the other hand, managed to rejoin the race after pulling into the pits after the second formation lap. However, he retired midway through the race.

The Mclaren-Honda struggles continued, as they finished 13<sup>th and 14<sup>th, and this despite the team arriving in Belgium with brand new upgraded engines. The penalties for Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso mean that they will start at the back of the grid even in the next race.

The excitement in the final two laps of the race partially overshadowed Hamilton's run up to the chequered flag for his sixth win of the season, but it remains to be seen how Rosberg responds in the next race at Monza.