Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish and inched slightly closer to series leader, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who trailed Hamilton around the track for virtually the entire race. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took third after Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was penalized 10 seconds for not slowing down during a yellow caution period during the race. Mercedes’ other driver – Valtteri Bottas – finished fifth.
Hamilton started from the pole position and led without much incident throughout the race as Vettel periodically closed to within a second but mostly stayed within one and two seconds behind the leader. The real battle was for the third and final podium position as either Raikkonen or Bottas looked like a lock for that spot until Red Bull’s Max Verstappen left the race with an engine failure in the eighth lap and Raikkonen failed to slow down during the yellow caution period, incurring a 10-second penalty and vaulting Ricciardo into the fray where he was able to successfully hold off both Raikkonen and Bottas.
With the win, Hamilton closes the series points gap to seven points behind Vettel – 220-213 – with Bottas in third at 179 points, Ricciardo in fourth with 132 points and Raikkonen in fifth with 128 points.
2017 Belgian Grand Prix Results
1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Sebastian Vettel
3 Daniel Ricciardo
4 Kimi Raikkonen
5 Valtteri Bottas
6 Nico Hulkenberg
7 Romain Grosjean
8 Felipe Massa
9 Esteban Ocon
10 Carlos Sainz