F1 results 2017: Lewis Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix, plus full finishing order

Lewis Hamilton has won the 2017 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, going from pole position to victory with few issues on Sunday. The Mercedes driver picked up 25 points, helping him in his battle with Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers Championship.

Vettel started in second on the grid and that’s where he finished. Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, lost out on some spots late in the race after a safety car start saw him pushed off the track, and he didn’t finish third on the podium, but in fifth.

The third spot on the podium went to Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, while Vettel’s teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, finished in fourth. The rest of the top 10 was rounded out by Nico Hulkenberg of Renault, Romain Grosjean of the American-owned Haas F1 team, Felipe Massa of Williams, Esteban Ocon of Force India and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Toro Rosso.

Hamilton came out of his first pit stop just about side-by-side with Raikkonen, but he quickly made it past the Ferrari on the fresher tires. After pit stops for all the top drivers, it came through that Raikkonen would have to serve a 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to slow under double yellow flags, likely from when Max Verstappen of Red Bull had to stop his car.

Pascal Wehrlein of Sauber was the first car to retire, early on in the first couple of laps. But the more dramatic retirement came when Verstappen had to stop early in the race as well. Verstappen is one of the most promising young drivers, and there are rumors he wants out of Red Bull due to his car troubles this season, and he was the second to retire from Sunday’s Grand Prix.

It was another rough race for Fernando Alonso of McLaren, who complained several times throughout the Grand Prix that his Honda-powered engine wasn’t good enough to compete. Early on, after being passed by multiple cars, he said that he was embarrassed.

Alonso became the third driver to retire from the race with an engine failure. His interview with Sky Sports F1 was interesting, as he implied that decisions will need to be made in the next few weeks regarding the team’s engine of the future and his spot on said team.

Once again, the Force India cars of Ocon and Sergio Perez got in each other’s way. Ocon was upset that he perhaps didn’t get the better pit strategy of the two, and they came together when Ocon was trying to make a pass on his teammate. Perez suffered a puncture, Ocon had to get his nose changed, and the safety car was deployed at Lap 31.

Hamilton complained about the slow safety car throughout the entire safety car period, and when things restarted on Lap 34, Vettel was extremely close to Hamilton. Vettel nearly passed Hamilton, but Hamilton held on the straight. Bottas was forced wide and lost out a place to Raikkonen and Ricciardo, ending up in fifth after that scrap.

Below is the full finishing order for Sunday’s Grand Prix.