Hamilton took a self-confident start. Going into Turn 1, Bottas was right at his teammate's tail, hungry to rob him of the lead. However, the Finn had to lift his foot off the throttle only for a fleeting moment, which meant, that he wasn't close enough to make an overtaking move in the Kemmel straight. Renault's Ricciardo, who had started to the race on the softs, was passionate to challenge Verstappen for P3; the Honey Badger even made it ahead of his ex teammate for a short moment, but Max stubbornly took back, what he thought was his. Teammate Ocon had had an impressive start as well, as the Frenchman had overtaken Albon at the start.
Charles had a promising start to his race in spite of the tame grid slot. By lap 5 the Monegasque had made his way up to P10 already. However, he sounded quite frustrated when complaining on the team radio about imminent lack of straight line speed. The SF1000 was going absolutely nowhere in the straights! McLaren's Norris saw his chance and attacked "crawling" Charles, snatching P10 from the struggling Ferrari ace.
There was dangerous-looking drama on lap 11. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, who was driving out of the top ten, right ahead of his Finnish teammate, pushed a bit too hard, losing the rear of his car and hitting the wall. The rear-left tyre was ripped off, which shouldn't have happened. The loose tyre hit Russell's Williams, although the Briton did everything to avoid it. Russell, too ended up into the wall, with his car wrecked as well. The track was covered with debris, and safety car was deployed. Everyone else rushed into the pits, except for AlphaTauri's Gasly and Racing Point's Perez, who stayed out. Mercedes' double stop was quite risky, as Bottas was just barely able to keep his second place ahead of Verstappen. The top three had predictably opted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Hamilton was still leading the race, with teammate Bottas second and Verstappen third. Due to not stopping yet, Gasly was fourth and Perez fifth.
The restart took place on lap 14. It offered Valtteri a second chance to challenge Hamilton for the lead, but the Briton was not to be surprised by any means. The restart didn't change the order of the top five. Lap 16 saw an event, which told everything about Ferrari's agonising current situation. Kimi in his Alfa Romeo saw his chance and made a move on Sebastian in the Kemmel straight. It seemed easy for the Iceman to move past the German and take P12. Who could have predicted, that Kimi in his Alfa Romeo would be the best performing Ferrari powered car at Spa Francorchamps? At Spa Francorchamps, where Ferrari were invincible last year, as Charles took his maiden win in F1! I felt utterly flabbergasted, totally out of words. On lap 19 teammate Charles tried to challenge Sebastian for P13, and the two even slightly made contact, but Sebastian firmly kept Charles behind. Such a battle for P13! It was so sad to watch!
Gasly was deeply in trouble with his out-worn hard tyres. Ricciardo attacked the Frenchman first, moving up to P4. Ricciardo showed excellent pace, but unfortunately his pace wasn't quite competitive enough to challenge Verstappen for P3. Also Ocon in the sister Renault and Stroll in his "pink Mercedes" smelled Gasly's blood and passed the struggling Frenchman. Gasly pitted not until on lap 27, for a fresh set of medium Pirellis. It was refreshing to see someone try different tyre strategy.
Hamilton controlled the race from the start till the chequered flag. There was no battle for the podium places, which made the race quite boring. But just because the race is boring, you can't take anything away from Hamilton, who is just simply on another planet compared to his rivals. He is simply unstoppable at the moment, doesn't put a foot wrong. Valtteri had no chance to challenge him at any point of the race. Verstappen, who finished third, complained about a boring race, too. He had to look after his tyres, and there was no real chance for him to challenge either one of the Silver Arrows. Verstappen's statistics of finishing on the podium in the last six races is convincing as well. Ricciardo definitely was "the black horse" of the race today; the ever-smiling Australian took P4 and the extra point for the fastest lap time. Teammate Ocon finished fifth, having overtaken Red Bull's Albon on the very final lap! Norris crossed the finish line in P7, followed by Gasly, who had been voted as the Driver of the Day by fans. "The pink Mercedes'" pace proved quite mediocre, as Stroll and Perez finished in P9 and P10 respectively. Kimi had driven a strong race, but unfortunately the Iceman wasn't rewarded with any points this time (P12). Sebastian and Charles were left in P13 and P14! This was a catastrophic result for the Red Team, totally unacceptable.
Hamilton's lead in the drivers' championship standings keeps growing. The imperious Briton has now 157 points to Verstappen's 110. Bottas is still third with 107 points. Albon has now dropped Charles down to P5 in the standings (Albon 48-Charles 45). Norris, too has 45 points thanks to his solid P7 today.
The F1 circus will move to Monza, Italy already next week. Monza is known not only as a true power circuit but also as the Red Team's home track. It's difficult to see, that the Red Team would be any more competitive on their home soil. Actually both upcoming back-to-back races will be held in Italy, so there might be two humiliating weekends on the way for Ferrari. It might be a good thing, that the races will be driven in front of empty grandstands, as the current situation hits hard fans' emotions and hearts as well.
My heart bleeds to see Sebastian fight for P12. He has potential for so much more. The current situation is absolutely unbearable.
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