2016 Belgian Grand Prix

2016 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 21 in the 2016 Formula One World Championship
Layout of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit
Race details[1]
Date	28 August 2016
Official name	2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix[2][3]
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.004 km (4.352 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 mi)
Weather	Partially cloudy and dry
Attendance	233,730 (Weekend) [4]
Pole position
Driver	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time	1:46.744
Fastest lap
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:51.583 on lap 40
Podium
First	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Second	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Third	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2016 Belgian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix)^[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 28 August 2016 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. It was the thirteenth round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marks the seventy-second running of the Belgian Grand Prix and the fifty-ninth time the race was held at Spa-Francorchamps.

Mercedes driver and defending race winner Lewis Hamilton entered the race leading the World Drivers' Championship by nineteen points ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of 159 points. Red Bull Racing was lying second, having passed Ferrari in the standings at the previous round in Germany.

Nico Rosberg won this Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton, second and third respectively. Hamilton received a multi-grid penalty before the start of the race. Hamilton retained the championship lead, with Rosberg closing the gap to nine points. Red Bull's Max Verstappen and both Ferraris were involved in an incident at the start of the race.

The race was stopped on lap 9 after Kevin Magnussen crashed heavily at Raidillon, suffering a 12.5G impact, causing structural damage to the armoured collision barrier and tyre wall which required repairs, before the race could resume under green flag conditions. Magnussen suffered a cut on his ankle but no serious injury.^[5]

Background[]

Driver changes[]

Esteban Ocon made his Formula One début, replacing Rio Haryanto at MRT.^[6] Haryanto stayed with the team, filling a testing and reserve role.^[7]

Tyres[]

Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with the super-soft, soft and medium compounds for the races. Drivers were also supplied with two sets of "prototype" soft tyres for use in the Friday practice sessions, which were designed to provide similar lap times and performance to the existing soft compound whilst being more durable when striking kerbs and going beyond track limits.^[8] The prototype tyres were introduced to allow Pirelli to gain data on their performance ahead of their competitive début in Malaysia, where they will replace the existing soft compound.

Upgrades[]

Both Honda and Mercedes introduced upgrades to their power units for the race, while Sauber brought their first updates of the season for the C35 chassis.^[9]

Penalties[]

Lewis Hamilton, Marcus Ericsson and Fernando Alonso took grid penalties for exceeding their season allocation of engine components; Hamilton received fifteen places for using his sixth turbocharger and associated Motor Generator Unit, while Ericsson was demoted ten places for replacing his turbocharger,^[10] and Alonso thirty-five places for introducing his sixth complete power unit. Hamilton received a second set of penalties when Mercedes introduced a seventh turbocharger and MGU-H ahead of the second free practice session;^[11] and a third set for further changes ahead of the final practice session, thereby guaranteeing that he would start the race from last place. Mercedes deliberately took the penalties as they sought to stockpile new components for the remainder of the season, deeming the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to be a venue where the potential for overtaking offset the penalties.^[12]

Esteban Gutiérrez received a five-place grid penalty for dangerous driving during the final practice session when Pascal Wehrlein was forced to take evasive action and cross the grassy verge on the inside of Raidillon to avoid contact.

On race day, Mercedes removed a seal on the gearbox of Hamilton's car so he could take a new gearbox at the next race, giving the world champion an additional five place grid penalty. The penalty was initially incorrectly issued and originally designated Hamilton to start from the pit lane.^[13]

Qualifying[]

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:48.019	1:46.999	1:46.744	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:48.407	1:47.163	1:46.893	2
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:47.912	1:47.664	1:46.910	3
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:47.802	1:47.944	1:47.108	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:48.407	1:48.027	1:47.216	5
6	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:48.106	1:47.485	1:47.407	6
7	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:48.080	1:47.317	1:47.543	7
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:48.655	1:47.918	1:47.612	8
9	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1:48.700	1:48.051	1:48.114	9
10	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.738	1:47.667	1:48.263	10
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:48.751	1:48.316		11
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:48.800	1:48.485		12
13	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	1:48.748	1:48.598		181
14	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:48.901	1:48.888		13
15	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:48.876	1:49.038		14
16	94	Pascal Wehrlein	MRT-Mercedes	1:48.554	1:49.320		15
17	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1:48.949			16
18	31	Esteban Ocon	MRT-Mercedes	1:49.050			17
19	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:49.058			19
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:49.071			202
21	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:50.033			213
107% time: 1:55.279
22	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	No time			224
Source:[14]

Notes:

• ^1  – Esteban Gutiérrez received a five-place grid penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein during the final practice session on Saturday.^[15]
• ^2  – Marcus Ericsson was penalised 10 grid places for unscheduled power unit element changes.^[14]
• ^3  – Lewis Hamilton received a 60-place grid penalty after Mercedes opted to replace several elements on his power unit, then remove a seal from his gearbox.^[16][13]
• ^4  – Fernando Alonso received a 60-place grid penalty after McLaren opted to replace several elements on his power unit.^[16] As Alonso also failed to set a qualifying time, his participation in the race came at the stewards' discretion.^[14]

Race[]

Race report[]

At the start Nico Rosberg got away well, Max Verstappen got a poor start and was passed by both Ferrari's of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, going into La Source Verstappen tried to come back at both Ferrari's only to hit Räikkönen who in turn then hit his teammate Vettel spinning him round, all three had to come back to the pits for repairs. At Les Combes Jenson Button was hit by Manor's Pascal Wehrlein taking them both out of the race. Carlos Sainz suffered a tyre failure and pulled off the track causing a virtual safety car, at this point Fernando Alonso had made it up to 12th with all the chaos and Lewis Hamilton was up to 15th. The race restarted but soon after Kevin Magnussen suffered a crash when his car spun and smashed into the tyre wall at Raidillon, Magnussen limped out of the car but did require medical attention for an injured ankle, the race was initially neutralised under the safety car before stopped two laps later so they could repair the tyre barrier. At the restart Hamilton was able to pass Alonso but then it took him several laps to get past the Force India of Nico Hülkenberg. Rosberg won the race followed by Daniel Ricciardo with Hamilton finishing third.^[17]

Post race[]

Kevin Magnussen had been taken to hospital as a precaution but tweeted that he was fine and he would be racing at the next Grand Prix in Italy.^[5]

Race classification[]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	44	1:44:51.058	1	25
2	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	44	+14.113	5	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	44	+27.634	21	15
4	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	44	+35.907	7	12
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	44	+40.660	6	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	44	+45.394	4	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	44	+59.445	22	6
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:00.151	8	4
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	44	+1:01.109	3	2
10	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:05.873	10	1
11	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	44	+1:11.138	2
12	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:13.877	18
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:16.474	11
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	44	+1:27.097	19
15	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	44	+1:33.165	13
16	31	Esteban Ocon	MRT-Mercedes	43	+1 Lap	17
17	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	43	+1 Lap	16
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	5	Accident	12
Ret	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	3	Gearbox	20
Ret	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1	Puncture damage	14
Ret	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1	Collision damage	9
Ret	94	Pascal Wehrlein	MRT-Mercedes	0	Collision	15
Source:[18]

Championship standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 232 2 Nico Rosberg 223 3 Daniel Ricciardo 151 1 4 Sebastian Vettel 128 1 5 Kimi Räikkönen 124 Source: [19]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 455 2 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 274 3 Ferrari 252 1 4 Force India-Mercedes 103 1 5 Williams-Mercedes 101 Source: [19]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also[]

• 2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 and GP3 Series rounds

References[]

External links[]

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