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Hamilton wins Belgian GP to match Schumacher s record, CTV News

Hamilton wins Belgian GP to match Schumacher’s record

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. (AP / Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Jerome Pugmire, The Associated Press

Published Sunday, August 27, two thousand seventeen 9:51AM EDT

Last Updated Sunday, August 27, two thousand seventeen 1:20PM EDT

SPA-FRANORCHAMPS, Belgium — For a brief moment, Lewis Hamilton feared he had lost the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Sebastian Vettel, on quicker tires with about ten laps to go, drove up right alongside him on a long straight, and Hamilton thought “this might be it.”

But the British driver fended off his rival heading into the corner.

“It worked out flawless. It was excellent to go into Turn five having just done enough,” Hamilton said. “He was able to get way too close. It was only just enough to stay ahead.”

After that, Vettel never got another chance to pass Hamilton and conceded some ground in the title race.

Hamilton’s third Spa win helped him trim championship leader Vettel’s advantage over him to seven points, with eight races left in what is shaping up to be a nail-biting finish.

Hamilton’s fifth win this season was his 58th overall, having equaled Michael Schumacher’s pole position record of sixty eight in Saturday’s qualifying.

Vettel finished about two seconds behind Hamilton.

“I was waiting for Lewis to make a mistake and he didn’t,” the German driver said. “I’m not entirely glad.”

The track was more suited to Mercedes than Ferrari, and Hamilton said improvement can still be made.

“This weekend we certainly didn’t have the race rhythm. The car is not fairly where we need it,” said Hamilton, who was rivaling in his 200th GP. “It was only just enough to stay ahead.”

Four-time F1 champ Vettel has two hundred twenty points to three-time champ Hamilton’s two hundred thirteen heading into next weekend’s Italian GP in Monza.

“The positive thing is that we had truly good race tempo,” Vettel said.

Crimson Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third — for his sixth podium of the season — ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas fifth.

Ricciardo demonstrated good race intelligence and opportunism to pass Bottas after the safety car came out ten laps from the end.

Hamilton made a good embark to the race on the long climb up to Eau Rouge, but Max Verstappen’s hopes ended on lap eight when his Crimson Bull lost power.

“I can’t believe this,” Verstappen said. His exasperation was understandable — it is the sixth time this season he has failed to finish the race, and some 80,000 Dutch fans had crossed the border to cheer him on.

“I’m not glad at all,” Verstappen said. “I am very disappointed for the fans who buy an expensive ticket to see.”

The 19-year-old Verstappen secured a podium with third place in China but has been hit with reliability issues since.

Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso retired on lap twenty seven in the latest setback as McLaren resumes to fight with Honda engines. The Spanish driver has ended only three races so far.

The Spa track, nestled in the Ardennes forest, is the longest in F1 at seven kilometres (Four.Three miles) and the race is often utter of incident.

There was one heated clash inbetween Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, prompting the safety car to come out after they made contact with each other on lap 30, sending debris onto the track.

Their tense relationship is degrading quick.

After bumping on the track at the Azerbaijan GP in June, they did it again when they touched wheels as Ocon moved on the outside of the track shortly after the embark, with Perez responding by squeezing the Frenchman against the barrier.

Later the pair came into contact again with Ocon’s front wing flying away and a tire ripping off off Perez’s car as a result.

This prompted a furious, expletive-laced outburst from Ocon.

After both cars pitted for repairs, Ocon finished ninth but Perez had to retire just before the end.

The safety car stayed out for four laps, which was too long for Hamilton’s liking, and he used an expletive of his own to complain.

“There was hardly any debris about,” Hamilton said afterward.

Drivers worry that their tires lose fever if they stay behind the car too long.

But Vettel failed to capitalize.

“Maybe that was the problem, my restart was too good,” Vettel said. “I was too close.”

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