Rosberg wins but must leave disappointed

Nico Rosberg arrived at Spa knowing that he had the chance to turn things around in this seasons Formula One World Championship.

Following the Russian Grand Prix Rosberg held a 43 point lead over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

But over the following 7 Grand Prix, that 43 point lead for Rosberg turned into a 19 point deficit, with Hamilton standing on the top step of the podium 6 times.

It was a monumental shift but the one thing Nico Rosberg would have been holding on to was Hamilton’s engine situation.

Hamilton had maxed out on his allocation on a number of components of the Mercedes power-unit which would mean that the Brit was set to take a severe grid penalty at some stage.

As his team-mate Rosberg would have known the Mercedes plan for the Belgian Grand Prix and the German must have been thinking that this was his chance to create the latest twist and turn in the championship race.

Hamilton would eventually rack up 60 grid place penalties as Mercedes bent the rules to give Hamilton three new engines to use for the remainder of the season, taking one big hit instead of multiple small hits.

This left Hamilton 21st on the grid and hopefully chasing down a few world championship points with a top ten finish.

But a safety car and red flag helped Hamilton towards decent track position and a free pit-stop opening up the chance to finish on the podium.

What an incredible weekend it?s been. It?s obviously been a much different weekend to anything we have ever really experienced. First of all I?m incredibly proud of my guys in the garage and back at the factory for building these engines and changing these engines this week. I think before, even on Thursday there was an engine swap, warming one up, then warming another one up. A change after practice one, a change after practice two, so I had three new engines this weekend. So to come away with the points that we have, I?m extremely proud of everyone.’ Hamilton told formula1.com.

With a third place finish Hamilton took 15 points, minimising the damage to Rosberg to just 10 points, leaving him still 9 points ahead of Rosberg in the 2016 Formula One World Championship.

‘I honestly didn?t know what was going to happen in the race. I was trying to keep my head down all weekend and focus on the long-run paces. It seemed to work and pay off. Congratulations to the guys next to me, this is great for Mercedes and still great for the championship. I?d have had an even better summer if I went into the summer knowing I?d come out nine points ahead still after three new engines. So I?m very grateful.

When Nico Rosberg was asked about only being able to recover 10 points on Lewis Hamilton he said: ‘It?s not disappointing, I?m happy. I?m happy to have won the race, it?s been a great weekend for me and that?s it. Fair play to Lewis, he did a good job.