Lewis on P2, Valtteri From P17 to P4 | 2018 Belgian Grand Prix of F1

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport had a tough race day in the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula One Championship. Lewis Hamilton lost the pole position from Sebastian Vettel on the first lap. Valtteri Bottas manage to get P4 starting from P17 due to engine change penalty in Q3.

Lewis finished on P2. He started on P1 but Vettel overtook him on Lap 1. 

Lewis finished on P2 which gives 10^th podium place for Mercedes in Formula 1, in Belgium. Lewis has 231 points and still leads the Drivers’ Championship by 17 points from Sebastian Vettel (214 points). Hamilton started on P1 with SuperSoft tires and drove with single Pit Stop when change to Soft tires on Lap 21. Leiws best lap time is 1:46.721 recorded on Lap 23.

Valtteri Bottas did a great job starting from P17 after the engine change penalty on Q3. He managed to reach P4 in the end of the race as adding more points for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team. He started on Soft tires as he made two Pit Stops, first on Lap 2 changing on SuperSoft tires and another change on Lap 29 with Soft compound. Bottas’s best time was recorded on Lap 32, 1:46.286. Valtteri made even a better lap time in comparison with his team-mate Lewis.

Valtteri Bottas manage to get P4 starting from P17 due to engine change penalty in Q3.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport already has 375 points and leads Ferrari (360 points) by 15 points in the Constructors’ Championship of Formula 1.

Quotes:

After the accident on Turn 1, where Hülkenberg hit Alonso who landed on Leclerc's halo, a Mercedes-AMG GT R Safety Car of Formula 1 was deployed.

Lewis Hamilton:

We gave it everything today but Ferrari just outperformed us and it was hard to match their times. I think we lost the race in the first lap and at the Safety Car restart. After that, it was done. They were just faster on the straights and there was nothing we could do. We came here with an upgrade, but unfortunately Ferrari were able to match us and even go faster. We’ve got to find more performance and improve on the areas where they’re currently stronger than us. But the battle continues and for the sport this is really exciting. We will keep pushing.

Leiws best lap time is 1:46.721 recorded on Lap 23.

Valtteri Bottas:

Our goal for today was damage limitation and we’ve had a good recovery drive. I was hoping to maybe get the chance to be on podium, but I had a collision going into Turn 1 which damaged my front wing. After that P4 was the maximum we could get and it’s not a bad result given the fact that we started from P17. I actually quite enjoyed the drive today, as I got to overtake a lot of cars. My favorite moment was probably the pass in Eau Rouge – that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we couldn’t win the race today, but we scored more points than Ferrari, so that’s one positive. They looked really strong this weekend, both in qualifying and in the race. We made a step forward with our engine for this weekend, but the Ferraris are still quicker so we need to keep pushing.

Bottas’s best time was recorded on Lap 32, 1:46.286.

Toto Wolff:

Today was a little bit deflating after the drama of qualifying. Lewis was pretty powerless on lap one – he got swallowed up by Vettel on the straight, but then couldn’t return the favour when Sebastian managed to break the tow on the restart after the Safety Car period. From then on, we were chasing a quicker car and didn’t quite have enough pace to challenge for the lead. On the strategy, we did the only thing we could – which was to try the undercut – and try to put some pressure on Ferrari, but they didn’t buckle. They were deserved winners today. Valtteri put in a great drive from the back to claim P4, so the points total brings us a small advantage on the constructors’ side, while Lewis lost some ground in the drivers’ standings. But most of all, we need to stay humble and keep working hard to improve our performance at every race.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, 2018 Belgian Grand Prix of Formula 1 - Race

James Allison

There’s no way of dressing it up today: we were well beaten by a quicker team, who were able to stretch away from us on both tyres throughout the stint. It was very disappointing after yesterday’s qualifying performance and what we believed our performance would be in the dry, to find today that we did not have the pace that we thought. Both drivers delivered good performances but neither of them had the car under them to do more today; we have some work on our hands in order to take the fight to Ferrari in Monza and the remaining races this year.