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Belgian GP driver ratings

Despite starting from the last row, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton deliver stand-out performances at Spa to star alongside Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg...

While the 21 other drivers in the field experienced frequent bouts of bedlam and chaos at Spa, Nico Rosberg enjoyed a serene Sunday afternoon cruise for his 20th F1 victory.

Although the Mercedes driver only succeeded in trimming rather than cutting his team-mate's title lead, there was nothing else Rosberg could have done. The German even had the good grace, too, to admit that Lewis Hamilton's engine penalties made his latest triumph a straightforward affair. "It wasn't the toughest race ever, of course, because Lewis wasn't there," he candidly acknowledged in the post-race press conference. 

Now to Monza and what will surely be a real fight between the two Merc drivers. If Rosberg can win next Sunday it really will be game on. 
Rating out of ten: 8.5

While his team-mate was capturing all the attention further down the field, Daniel Ricciardo quietly got on with it and took home a third podium in a row.

We'll never know whether he made a better call on strategy than Max Verstappen due to the madness that ensued in the first 12 laps - but what is certain is that he is now 36 points and three places clear of the Dutchman in the Drivers' Championship.

At Spa, Ricciardo showed his versatility. He's an accomplished racer with an attacking mentality, but to quote his team boss Christian Horner, "he showed great discipline". The Aussie judged it perfectly - realising he couldn't catch Rosberg, he focused on holding off Hamilton and finished comfortably in second.
Rating out of ten: 9

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At times it was hard to keep up with the penalties being accrued by Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes played their three-card-engine-trick at Spa, but the number he was focused on at the end of the race was rather easier to remember -nine.

That's the nine championship points he still holds over Nico Rosberg in his attempt to reach F1 immortality and win a fourth world title. That it's as many as that certainly owes something to good fortune on a day of breathless incident and action, but credit goes to Hamilton for steering clear of it all, particularly on the first lap when he let his head overrule his racing instincts and deliberately kept his distance from warring rivals. "I came out of Eau Rouge with a decent gap between me and those cars ahead because they all looked like they were going a bit crazy," explained Hamilton afterwards as he reflected on an unlikely run to the podium.

Third place was clearly more than he could have hoped for but the 31-year-old has become rather adept at damage limitation when required over the last few years. Clean, razor-sharp moves on Alonso and Hulkenberg after the fortuitous red flag promoted him into the top three and, although he didn't have the tyre life to take on Ricciardo, Hamilton was understandably in chipper mood post-race. Armed with a stockpile of new engines, he remains in control of the title race.
Rating out of ten: 8

F1

It's not that elusive first career podium for Nico Hulkenberg, but fourth place still represents a standout result for a driver whose steady points-scoring consistency is sometimes his own worst enemy.

Although pipped by team-mate Sergio Perez to the third row in qualifying by a tenth of a second, Hulkenberg was the big winner of lap one as he picked his way through the La Source chaos and briefly ran second before holding third until the stoppage for Kevin Magnussen's crash. "The red flag proved costly because it neutralised things and bunched everybody back up again," admitted the Hulk, who was soon chased down and overtaken by the recovering Hamilton at the restart.

But while he may not have won that battle, he did win the one with Alonso exiting the pit lane, meaning he matched his career-best result for the second time.
Rating out of ten: 9

Sergio Perez's future is still uncertain but he's certainly doing plenty to improve his reputation as he and Hulkenberg gathered enough points to move Force India up to fourth in the constructors' standings ahead of Williams.

The Mexican started in sixth and finished the race fifth, but that is decidedly more noteworthy when you consider the chaos at the start dropped him down to ninth. Impressive work - again.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

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Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen collide at the first corner at Spa

Sebastian Vettel's 2016 has certainly been messy at times and the first-corner clash which wrecked the race of both Ferraris summed up how things are going. Whoever was at fault, that's now five races since the four-time champion last stood on the podium.

Kimi Raikkonen seemed to have the edge on Vettel all weekend up to the race, although both drivers made mistakes on their final laps in qualifying to let slip any chance of the team's first front-row of the year. After falling to the back after turn one, Vettel's recovery to sixth was commendable but it turned out to be another day of shoulda woulda coulda for Ferrari.

After 13 rounds, Vettel is now more than 100 points off the world championship pace. This wasn't how it was meant to be.
Rating out of ten: 6

Look no further than Fernando Alonso for the driver of the day. Having joked he would simply follow Hamilton from their back-row starting berth, the Spaniard actually out-started the Mercedes to reach 11th at the end of the first lap and fourth when the race was red-flagged for Kevin Magnussen's crash.

The rest of the race from Alonso was all fight and defiance in a losing cause that amounted to a triumph in seventh. As Martin Brundle remarked in commentary, there's still a world championship in the Spaniard if only McLaren can deliver the car. "The top ten on a circuit like this was unthinkable a couple of months ago," noted Alonso.

A year overdue, McLaren are making progress, bordering on big progress.
Rating out of ten: 9

An 'if only' race for Valtteri Bottas - "we wasted the opportunity that we had" - after Williams were caught out by the timing of the Magnussen Safety Car. But any lingering doubt about the driver hierarchy at Williams was emphatically dispelled at the end of Sunday's race when the team instructed Felipe Massa to let Bottas through in order for the Finn to try to chase down Alonso.

He couldn't quite do it, crossing the line two seconds down on the McLaren, but the impression remains that nobody could be getting much more out of the Williams package. Consider the consistency of Bottas's recent run of results: 10th on the grid in Hungary, ninth at the finish; Eighth on the grid in Germany, ninth at the finish; Eighth on the grid at Spa, eighth again at the finish.

Whatever the problem at Williams, it's not Bottas.
Rating out of ten: 7

To say it was a difficult race for Kimi Raikkonen is a rather large understatement.

Raikkonen has earned the nickname 'King of Spa' over the years after four wins there - but a ninth place finish after starting in third was very possibly the best he could do on this occasion, following a race that included a first-lap collision, a small fire during a pit-stop and a fascinating battle with Max Verstappen.

Not known for being particularly vociferous, Kimi certainly made his thoughts known on Verstappen, with many an obscenity-filled radio comment and further criticism of the Dutchman in his post-race interviews. This could well be a rivalry that is not left in the Ardennes hills. The Finn drops below his team-mate Vettel in the drivers' standings and the pressure of a home race with the ever-demanding Tifosi ahead, the joy of a summer filled with the champagne and celebrations of his wedding must seem like a distant memory.
Rating out of ten: 7

With speculation he is on the verge of retirement, this definitely won't be a race that stands out in the career of Felipe Massa.

He'll no doubt walk away feeling pretty disgruntled, not least after being asked to move over for his team-mate, reputedly against his will, in the final few laps of the race. The call meant he fell back into the clutches of Raikkonen and he could only manage tenth in the end, exactly where he started.

To add insult to injury, he is also overtaken by Hulkenberg in the standings.
Rating out of ten: 5

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Paul di Resta analyses an action-packed race for Max Verstappen at Spa.

A race of regret, controversy and frustration for Max Verstappen who afterwards angrily dismissed criticism of his driving style as a "big lie". But the truth is rarely so black and white. While the Dutchman was blameless for his first-corner collision with the two Ferraris he was fortunate his block on Raikkonen later in the race didn't cause what the Sky F1 pundits suggested would have been an "aeroplane crash".

And we've been here before, of course, with Verstappen's defending style already a hot topic of debate and dispute prior to the summer break. Red Bull's diamond still has a rough edge that needs polishing.
Rating out of ten: 5

A point on his F1 comeback eludes him, and his clash with Pascal Wehrlein in Practice Three was merely the latest example of the Mexican losing friends on track, but Esteban Gutierrez is beginning to quietly impress at Haas.

Gutierrez appears able to conserve his tyres in a way that his team-mate can't and his 12th place at Spa amounted to the third successive race in which he out-resulted Grosjean. But could he have finished in the points but for earning a five-place grid drop for that unnecessary incident in P3?
Rating out of ten: 7

Romain Grosjean's grumpy side had re-appeared earlier in the weekend as the Frenchman struggled with his car throughout the practice sessions in Belgium and it didn't end brilliantly for the Haas driver either.

After what turned out to be a poor strategy call, when the team pitted their drivers under the Safety Car and just before the red flag came out, Grosjean finished finished 13th. As referenced above, for the third race in a row he was also beaten by his less experienced team-mate. 
Rating out of ten: 6

After the despair in Germany before the summer break, it was a much-needed better day for Daniil Kvyat.

He finished 14th and said afterwards that a points-finish had even looked on the cards at one stage. Toro Rosso knew they were going to struggle at a power circuit like this, given they are stuck with a 2015 Ferrari power unit for the season, so the wait for an improvement in fortunes will be on hold until their home race at Monza is out of the way.
Rating out of ten: 6

Another case of 'nearly but not near enough' Jolyon Palmer. A strong start saw him go from thirteenth to seventh by lap five, but a points-finish still eludes the British rookie and he ended up fifteenth after struggling with tyre degradation.

Renault can be pleased with a strong team performance in qualifying though - and relief all round that Magnussen came away with just a cut on the ankle after a terrifying crash at Eau Rouge.
Rating out of ten: 6

It was a decent debut for Manor's Esteban Ocon. Perhaps nothing to write home about, but the youngster displayed impressive maturity by keping himself out of trouble as the chaos unfolded in front of him at the start and also managed to avoid finishing last, holding off Sauber for 16th place.
Rating out of ten: 7

Seventeenth in qualifying and 17th on race day, another track weekend to forget for Sauber's Felipe Nasr. But not one without interest off it: is the Brazilian in the frame for a race seat at Williams in 2017?
Rating out of ten: 6

Did not finish: Jenson Button, Carlos Sainz, Marcus Ericsson, Pascal Wehrlein, Kevin Magnussen

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