Formula 1®
DHL Fastest Lap Award: 2016 FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
It was the 31st occasion in his career that the Mercedes man has posted the fastest lap in a Grand Prix. In second and third place at Spa were Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg (01:51.746 minutes) and Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat (01:52.081 minutes) respectively. The Brit moved to the top of the timesheet shortly before the end of the race on the 40th of 44 laps. When the ten fastest race laps in Belgium are averaged out, Hamilton still occupies the top spot.
It was a topsy-turvy race for the three-time world champion: Hamilton had to start from 21st on the grid after being handed a penalty for multiple changes of his drive unit at Spa. But thanks to an outstanding performance – and to some incidents in the field ahead of him – he progressed relatively quickly to fifth place. After eventually overtaking Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg, Hamilton moved up to third and thus secured the final podium position.
“If you’d offered me third coming into this race with all the penalties, I would definitely have taken it.”
Lewis Hamilton
“If you’d offered me third coming into this race with all the penalties, I would definitely have taken it,” said Lewis Hamilton. “I really wasn’t expecting that! It was a steep mountain to climb, but we did it together as a team. The most difficult part of the race really was the mental approach from the beginning in terms of whether I risked it all at the start or hung back and tried to pick my way through carefully. I kind of went for somewhere in the middle - but then all this commotion happened along the way and I’m grateful I could capitalize on that.”
Rosberg continues to lead the 2016 DHL Fastest Lap Award with five fastest laps to his credit. He is followed by Hamilton on three and Daniel Ricciardo on two.
The next battle of the Silver Arrows in the drivers’ championship – and quest for points in the DHL Fastest Lap Award – comes as early as next weekend (2nd - 4th September) in the FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA at Monza in Italy. For the logistics crews, this means hard work: they have only a few days to pack up all the equipment at Spa-Francorchamps, transport it to the Royal Park of Monza and set it all up again.
Fastest race laps: 2016 FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
01 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 01:51.583 - on Lap 40
02 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 01:51.746 - on Lap 11
03 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso 01:52.081 - on Lap 37
04 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 01:52.461 - on Lap 11
05 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 01:52.728 - on Lap 35
06 Jolyon Palmer (Renault) 01:53.251 - on Lap 41
07 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 01:53.281 - on Lap 32
08 Sergio Pérez (Force India) 01:53.414 - on Lap 34
09 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 01:53.498 - on Lap 27
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Force India) 01:53.530 - on Lap 41
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