The 2016 Belgian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix) 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. It was also the first time eventual race winner Esteban Ocon drove in a F1 race.

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 12.5 g 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.

Background Driver changes Esteban Ocon made his Formula One début, replacing Rio Haryanto at MRT. Haryanto stayed with the team, filling a testing and reserve role.

Tyres Tyre supplier Pirelli provided teams with 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. 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.

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, 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; 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.

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 inside 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.

Qualifying DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3 16 Mercedes 1:48.019 1:46.999 1:46.744 1 2 33 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:48.407 1:47.163 1:46.893 2 3 7 Ferrari 1:47.912 1:47.664 1:46.910 3 4 5 Ferrari 1:47.802 1:47.944 1:47.108 4 5 3 1:48.407 1:48.027 1:47.216 5 6 11 Force India-Mercedes 1:48.106 1:47.485 1:47.407 6 7 27 Force India-Mercedes 1:48.080 1:47.317 1:47.543 7 8 77 Williams-Mercedes 1:48.655 1:47.918 1:47.612 8 9 22 McLaren-Honda 1:48.700 1:48.051 1:48.114 9 10 19 Williams-Mercedes 1:47.738 1:47.667 1:48.263 10 11 8 Haas-Ferrari 1:48.751 1:48.316 11 12 20 Renault 1:48.800 1:48.485 12 13 21 Haas-Ferrari 1:48.748 1:48.598 18 14 30 Renault 1:48.901 1:48.888 13 15 55 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.876 1:49.038 14 16 94 MRT-Mercedes 1:48.554 1:49.320 15 17 12 Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.949 16 18 31 MRT-Mercedes 1:49.050 17 19 26 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:49.058 19 20 9 Sauber-Ferrari 1:49.071 20 21 44 Mercedes 1:50.033 21107% time: 1:55.279 22 14 McLaren-Honda No time 22 Source:

Notes:  – Esteban Gutiérrez received a five-place grid penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein during the final practice session on Saturday.  – Marcus Ericsson was penalised 10 grid places for unscheduled power unit element changes.  – 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.  – Fernando Alonso received a 60-place grid penalty after McLaren opted to replace several elements on his power unit. As Alonso also failed to set a qualifying time, his participation in the race came at the stewards' discretion.

Race

Race report

At the start Nico Rosberg got away well, Max Verstappen got a poor start and was passed by both Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, going into La Source Verstappen tried to come back at both Ferraris. Vettel could not see Verstappen and turned in on Räikkönen who couldn’t turn more because of Verstappen on his inside, this all resulting in Vettel hitting Räikkönen who was then bumped into the path of Verstappen, resulting in Verstappen hitting Räikkönen. This resulted in Vettel spinning round and 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 being 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. Hamilton became the first ever driver to have claimed three podiums from 20th on the grid or lower.

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.

Race classification Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 1:44:51.058 125 2 3 Daniel Ricciardo 44 +14.113 518 3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 +27.634 2115 4 27 Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 +35.907 712 5 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 44 +40.660 610 6 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 44 +45.394 48 7 14 McLaren-Honda 44 +59.445 226 8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 +1:00.151 84 9 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 44 +1:01.109 32 10 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 +1:05.873 101 11 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 44 +1:11.138 2 12 21 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 20 Renault 5 Accident 12 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 3 Gearbox 20 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 Puncture damage 14 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1 9 94 Pascal Wehrlein MRT-Mercedes 0 Collision 15 Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton 232 2 Nico Rosberg 223 3 151 1 4 Sebastian Vettel 128 1 5 Kimi Räikkönen 124Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 455 2 274 3 Ferrari 252 1 4 Force India-Mercedes 103 1 5 Williams-Mercedes 101Source:

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

See also 2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 Series round 2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP3 Series round

References

External links