New engine delivers 'easy' win to Ferrari

Mercedes started from pole position at yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix, but it was a Ferrari that dominated and gave Sebastien Vettel an easy victory.

The safety car came out after huge crash at the first corner, which sent Fernando Alonso’s McLaren sailing over the top of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber and set off a chain of lesser shunts.

But when racing resumed Vettel squeezed past Lewis Hamilton and led the rest of the 44 laps of the 7km Spa Francorchamps circuit.

He finished 11 seconds ahead of Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a lonely third.

It was another miserable day for Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose Red Bull was hit from behind at the start, sending him into the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari — both having to retire.

Drive of the day was from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who started from 18th due to grid penalties, and steadily worked his way up to fourth after getting by Sergio Perez in the impressive and newly-named Racing Point Force India just four laps from the finish.

Behind Perez came teammate Esteban Ocon, followed by the two Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Anderson, with Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) and Marcus Ericsson in the surviving Sauber ninth and 10th.

The spectacular first lap crash was caused by Nico Hulkenberg who admitted he had ‘completed misjudged’ his braking as he punted Alonso’s McLaren out of the race.

It was a rare error by the experienced and respected Renault driver, who was given a 10-second grid penalty for next Sunday’s race at Monza, in Italy.

He, Alonso and Leclerc all emerged unscathed from the crash, with Leclerc apparently saved by the new ‘halo’ protection device which deflected the flying McLaren.

“On the positive side we are all okay,” Alonso said.

“With the Halo or whatever, it’s good proof.

“When you miss so much the braking point and hit someone at that speed you need to think a little bit twice next time,” the Spaniard said.

Daniel Ricciardo, who will join Hulkenberg at Renault next season, was scratching his head over his incident, which was separate from the main crash.

“I don’t know exactly what happened at the start, but I felt a tap and to be honest I just remember sliding and the next minute I hit the back of Kimi,” he said.

“It was just a Turn 1 incident and apologies to Kimi if his retirement was down to me, but I’m pretty sure it all started behind me and was a chain reaction.”

While the leading 10 became somewhat processional, there was good racing further in the pack, with the battle between Ericsson (Sauber) and Brendon Hartley in the Toro Rosso a highlight.

The pair swapped places lap after lap until Hartley pitted and the Swede was able to surge ahead, finishing 10th. Hartley ran 14th.

The performances of the Racing Point and Haas teams also showed exciting progress, with both starting to threaten the traditional front-running Mercs, Ferraris and Red Bulls.

The 10 points from the collective result of Grosjean and Magnussen allowed the Haas team to solidify its fifth-place standing in the constructors’ ranks.