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Lewis Hamilton delighted with 'super bonus' of Belgian GP podium

Lewis thrilled with fightback to third after Mercedes predicted eighth from back row; Hamilton believes "now the fight is really on" with Rosberg with nine points between the pair

Lewis Hamilton has described the outcome of his penalty-filled Belgian GP weekend a "super bonus" and believes "now the fight is really on" with Nico Rosberg for the world title.

The world championship leader overcame the penalty of starting from the back row of the grid to finish on the podium at Spa amid a dramatic afternoon of racing.

Hamilton had played down his chances of a podium on Saturday night, but in the race took advantage of numerous incidents in the opening stages to run fifth by the lap-nine red flag. He then overtook Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg to claim third, two places behind his race-winning team-mate Rosberg.

Hamilton limited the German's gain on him to just 10 points, meaning the Briton remains nine points ahead in the championship heading into next weekend's Italian GP at Monza.

And, with the spectre of engine penalties finally lifted from over him after several months, Hamilton was thrilled with how the result of the weekend sets him up for the remainder of the season.

"We prepared ourselves in a way that we hoped that we would get some points, but one of my guys took me up to the Paddock Club today [before the race] and I was like 'I might not finish today'," said Hamilton

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"I was really of the mind that whatever happens, it is what it is, and then for the next race I've got the same amount of engines, if not more than others now, and I can fight in the last eight races.

"So to come out with a clean race like I did, only lose 10 points and have three new engines, it's a super bonus."

Despite the need to make up ground at the start, Hamilton revealed he took a low-risk approach to an opening lap which witnessed a first-corner clash between the two Ferraris and Max Verstappen.

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Ted Kravitz gives his thoughts on a thrilling Belgian Grand Prix.

Although overtaken by Alonso, Hamilton was still up to 15th by the end of lap one as Verstappen, Nasr, Vettel, Button and Raikkonen all pitted with damage.

"The start I didn't go too hard in terms of attacking into Turn One," Hamilton said. "Then I saw Kimi so I avoided that, had a big lift [off the throttle] and was like 'let those guys go'.

"So 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. So I tried to stay out of that.

"Then I lost a place to Alonso trying to get around a Ferrari around a punctured tyre, but it wasn't clear to go to the right or left of it so, again, I wasn't risking anything. Then after it was just trying to recover and then I guess with the Virtual Safety Car and [actual] Safety Car people were stopping during those times. Then the red flag came out and I was up to fifth because people had stopped.

Lewis Hamilton cuts through the Belgian Grand Prix field in his Mercedes

"So it was perfect for me, I definitely wasn't expecting that. There have been races I've done where I've needed something like that and it's not happened and it's been a real tough fight from the back.

"The team predicted eighth today, so very happy with it."

Holding a nine-point advantage over Robserg with eight races to go, Hamilton told Sky F1: "I think I now have more engines than most so now the fight is really on and hopefully for us it'll be a cleaner second half of the season and we can see some good fights."

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