After the summer break, the Formula 1 season resumed this weekend. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium is one of the most interesting tracks in the calendar, with its famous Eau Rouge corner shorting out the boys from the men.
Two of the title contesters, however, never had the chance to go so far in Sunday’s race. In fact, they retired at the very first corner. Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus collided, and the later hit the championship points’ leader, Fernando Alonso, marking the Ferrari driver’s first retirement this year.
After the race, Grosjean apologized, but he received a one-race penalty, which means he will miss Monza next week. Lotus will soon announce his replacement.
With the safety car in front until the debris was cleared from the track, pole-man Jenson Button was leading Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta. Right behind them was Michael Schumacher who made a terrific start in his 300th Grand Prix.
The German, who at one point was up to third place but had to make an unscheduled pit stop due to tire wear and in the last laps had a gearbox problem with his Mercedes said that he really enjoyed the race.
“I did. It’s obviously beautiful to fight for the top-end positions and a little sad not to take one home”, he said after finishing seventh. “Nevertheless, it was a joyful and exciting grand prix”, he added.
It surely was even more joyful for McLaren and Button, who took the chequered flag and scored his first win since the season’s first race. The Brit, who moved up to sixth place in the driver’s standings, admitted that he was unsure of the strategy he should adopt.
“We weren’t really sure what to do with the strategy, whether it would be a one-stop or a two-stop and whether some people might be doing a three”, he said. Eventually, it turned out that one pit-stop was enough for the Brit to cruise to victory ahead of reigning champion Sebastian Vettel and Lotus’ Raikkonen.
By Andrew Tsaousis
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