Mercedes-AMG Petronas’ Lewis Hamilton swept to his fourth victory at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps with teammate Valtteri Bottas in tow, and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen taking third, maintaining his record of finishing on the podium at every race he’s been classified in this season.
Following his dominant pole on Saturday, Hamilton resisted the first lap slipstreaming contest down to Les Combes (Corners 7-8-9) to hold onto the lead, before retaining it for all 44 laps to close out his fifth victory out of the seven races this season. Bottas, meanwhile, passed the chequered flag a full eight seconds behind to clinch P2, with Verstappen a further seven seconds down the road.
Renault DP World’s Daniel Ricciardo led home the team’s best finish of the year in fourth, crossing the line under four seconds behind Verstappen after some rapid final laps, with teammate Esteban Ocon overtaking Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon on the final tour to take fifth. For his part, Albon held onto the sixth spot, warding off McLaren F1’s Lando Norris.
An impressive drive from Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly saw him take eighth, while the two final point-scoring spots were taken by the BWT Racing Point pair of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez. Meanwhile, both Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow drivers (Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc) finishing the race out of the points in P13 and P14 respectively.
McLaren F1’s Carlos Sainz was unable to take the race start after a power unit led to an exhaust issue, while there was a Safety Car post a big crash for Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in Lap 11 (out of 44), where Williams Racing’s George Russell hit Giovinazzi’s wheel. Neither of the drivers were injured, although the crash forced both of them to retire from the race.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s fourth Belgian Grand Prix win sees him draw equal with past masters like Brit Jim Clark and Finn Kimi Raikkonen on third in the all-time list for Spa victories, behind Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
Below are the standings of the point-scoring drivers after the 2020 Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps :
Note - Provisional results. Ricciardo scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.