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2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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2014 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 19 in the 2014 Formula One World Championship
Layout of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit
Layout of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit
Race details
Date 24 August 2014
Official name 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 7.004 km (4.352 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 miles)
Weather Mostly cloudy with maximum temperatures reaching 16 degrees during the day.
Attendance 80,000
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 2:05.591
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Time 1:50.511 on lap 36
Podium
First
Red Bull-Renault
Second
Mercedes
Third
Williams-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2014 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Wallonia on 24 August. It was the twelfth round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 58th running of the event as part of the series. The 44-lap race was won by Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo from a fifth position start. Nico Rosberg finished second for Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas of Williams took third.

Although Rosberg won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying, he was immediately passed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton and the second Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel at the start. He returned to second after Vettel made a driving error at Les Combes corner and took the lead following contact with the right-hand end plate of his front wing and Hamilton's left-rear tyre on lap two. Rosberg made a pit stop to replace his front at the end of the eighth lap, relinquishing the lead to Ricciardo. Over the course of the remainder of the race, Ricciardo maintained the lead and he responded to the faster pace of Rosberg in the final ten laps to claim his second victory in a row and the third of his career.

Rosberg was booed by the crowd and he received an undisclosed punishment from Mercedes for his contact with Hamilton; both competitors were permitted to race each other without the imposition of team orders. The result of the Grand Prix enabled Ricciardo to maintain third in the Drivers' Championship and Rosberg increased his lead over Hamilton to 29 points after Hamilton retired with bodywork damage. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso kept fourth from Bottas in fifth. Mercedes maintained its lead in the Constructors' Championship over Red Bull with seven races left in the season.

Background

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (pictured in 2018), where the race was held.

The 2014 Belgian Grand Prix was the 12th of 19 scheduled single seater races of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 58th running of the event as part of the series. It was held at the 19-turn 7.004 km (4.352 mi) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Wallonia on 24 August.[1] Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four types of tyre to the race: two dry compounds (yellow-banded soft "options" and the white-banded medium "primes") and two wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet).[2] The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race, one was on the straight linking the Bus Stop chicane and La Source corner, and the second was on the Kemmel Straight linking Radillion and Les Combes turns.[3] Following the 2013 race, new debris fences were erected at La Source turn, the barrier on the inside of turn 11 was renewed and drainage across the track was improved.[4]

Entering the race, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led the Drivers' Championship with 202 points, eleven ahead of his teammate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton in second. Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull was third with 131 points after finishing in first place at the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix four weeks earlier and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso stood in fourth with 115 points. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top five for Williams with 95 points.[5] In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led with 393 points and they were ahead of Red Bull in second with 213 points. Ferrari stood in third with 142 points and Williams were seven points behind in the battle for the position. With 98 points, Force India completed the top five teams.[5]

André Lotterer (pictured in 2012) made his début at a Formula One race weekend, replacing Kamui Kobayashi at Caterham.

At the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton ignored team orders from Mercedes to allow Rosberg to overtake him in the final laps and reduced his Drivers' Championship deficit to 11 points by finishing third with Rosberg fourth. The two held discussions over the situation and it was diffused on the Thursday night before the Belgian Grand Prix after the two spoke after the four-week interval.[6] For his part, Hamilton said he desired a recreation of his best form from earlier in the season and sought to put his recent below-par qualifying performances behind him,

"I had some difficult weekends in the first part of the season, but then a bit of good fortune at the last race in Budapest kept me from damaging my car on the wall during that first lap, so hopefully that was a sign that my fortunes are changing at just the right time.There were so many positives to take from the opening eleven races, but both myself and the team always want more and know we are capable of more. The aim is to put the more difficult times of some of the previous weekends behind us and to recreate the best moments at every race from now on. I love driving at Spa, so there are few better places to start."[7]

Rosberg stated that he would not underestimate the duel for the championship due to pace of the other teams, "In Formula One you just can't afford to give away any advantage and I know that both the team and myself will be working harder than ever to keep improving and maintain our position right to the very end. On top of that, the battle with Lewis has been so close all season -- and it could well stay that way right up to the final race -- so every last point will be crucial in that contest, too."[7]

There was one change of driver going into the Grand Prix. Three-time co-winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2011 Formula Nippon champion André Lotterer took over Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham that the latter used from the season's first round. At 32 years and 288 days old, Lotterer was the oldest driver to début in Formula One since Giovanni Lavaggi at the 1995 German Grand Prix and it was his first time in a Formula One car since he was a test driver for Jaguar in 2002.[8] Marussia announced that GP2 Series competitor and test and reserve driver Alexander Rossi would be entered in place of regular driver Max Chilton,[9] because of reported "contractual issues" but the organisation who represented Chilton claimed that he relinquished his role "voluntarily".[10] Chilton's seat was subsequently reinstated following a successful request to the stewards by Marussia, meaning Rossi drove only in the first practice session.[10] In that session, Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde utilised Esteban Gutiérrez's car.[11]

Practice

Pastor Maldonado (pictured in 2015) crashed in the second practice session and stopped the session temporarily.

Per the regulations for the 2014 season, three practice sessions were held, two 90-minute sessions on Friday and another 60-minute session before qualifying on Saturday.[12] In the first practice session, held in dry weather conditions,[13] Rosberg was fastest with a lap of 1 minute and 51.577 seconds, almost a tenth of a second quicker than his teammate Hamilton in second. The Ferraris of Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen were third and fifth; they were separated by Jenson Button's McLaren in fourth. Sergio Pérez of Force India led McLaren's Kevin Magnussen, the other Force India of Nico Hülkenberg, Ricciardo and Bottas in positions six to ten.[14] During the session, Alonso briefly stopped at the edge of Eau Rouge corner with engine problems,[15] and his teammate Räikkönen spun leaving the La Source hairpin before his car's energy recovery system overheated.[16] Button's DRS was lodged open, Vettel's session ended early with a temperature-related exhaust failure and Marcus Ericsson pirouetted his Caterham at the La Source hairpin.[14]

Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day on the soft compound tyre during a qualifying simulation in the second practice session at 1 minute and 49.189 seconds. Rosberg was 0.604 seconds slower in second and Alonso was third. Felipe Massa of Williams was fourth, Button fifth and Bottas sixth. Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Hülkenberg followed in the top ten.[17] Just after eight minutes into practice, Pastor Maldonado ran into the grass at the right-hand side exiting Rivage corner and heading into Pouhon turn. He lost control of his Lotus and speared across the track and into the inside barrier, causing a red flag.[17] The right-rear wheel was deranged from Maldonado's car and track marshals cleared debris.[18] He was transported to the circuit's medical centre for a pre-cautionary check-up and was released soon after with no injuries found.[19] Gutiérrez spun soon after at Blanchimont corner due to a gearbox fault, prompting a second stoppage since he was unable to continue driving.[17]

After the second practice session, Vettel, who was sidelined with a ignition failure in one cylinder that broke the exhaust and overheated his kinetic motor–generator unit, changed his engine, his fifth of the season. He avoided incurring a ten-place grid penalty because he reverted to utilising an old-specification power unit from the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix.[20] Heavy overnight rain made the circuit damp and little on-track activity occurred during the first half an hour of the final practice session.[21] Wet and intermediate tyres were used before cars were fitted with the soft and medium compound dry tyres for the rest of the session as they prepared for qualifying. Bottas was fastest on the drying track surface with a lap of 1 minute and 49.465 seconds that he set in the session's final seconds. Ricciardo was second, Rosberg placed third and Räikkönen came fourth. Hamilton, Alonso, Kvyat, Button, Massa and Jean-Éric Vergne of Toro Rosso completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.[22]

Qualifying

Nico Rosberg had the 11th pole position of his career in a rain-affected qualifying session.

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished the session 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect, requiring drivers to reach a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify. The second part of the qualifying session lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final part of the qualifying session determined the positions from first to tenth, deciding the pole position. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times.[12] Heavy rain returned 40 minutes before qualifying commenced and accompanied a hailstorm, making the circuit slippery. Although it later stopped, uncertainty over the conditions caused teams to use wet-weather tyres. Rain came back at the first session's end and it remained for most of the following session before it turned sunny for the final session.[23]

Rosberg was fastest in the first and third sessions and took his first pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, his fourth in a row, his seventh of 2014, and the 11th of his career with a time of 2 minutes and 5.591 seconds.[24] He was joined on the grid's front row by his teammate Hamilton who was 0.228 seconds slower because a grazed front left brake disc caused his vehicle to jerk and lost time by changing his braking points.[25] Vettel and Alonso took third and fourth after their first timed laps of the final session and both drivers could not better the two Mercedes.[26] Ricciardo qualified in fifth after running wide at Blanchimont corner on his final lap. A loss of time in the track's first sector caused Bottas to start from sixth. An understeer from flat-spotting his front tyres at the La Source hairpin in the second session meant Magnussen took seventh.[27] Multiple driving errors from Räikkönen placed him in eighth. Ninth-placed Massa had a grazed front right disc in the track's heavy braking zones. Traffic on his warm-up lap comprised his tyre warming and slowed him.[28] Button took tenth after he locked his brakes cresting a hill on the run to Les Combes corner.[27]

Kvyat was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten because he was demoted to 11th in the final seconds of the second session; his fastest lap time was 2.768 seconds slower than Hamilton's pace in that period.[26] His teammate Vergne had an exhaust system fault that limited him to three timed laps and restricted him to qualifying 12th. Pérez could not improve his lap because of the wet track and he took 13th. Sauber's Adrian Sutil pushed hard to start from 14th and Romain Grosjean of Lotus had a loss of rear car control that restricted him to 15th.[27] Marussia driver Jules Bianchi entered the second session for the second successive year in Belgium and the third time in the last four races;[26][29] he took 16th after balance issues at Les Combes corner and brake grazing problems caused him to run deep at Bruxelles turn. Maldonado failed to progress beyond the first session after he spun on his fastest lap and claimed 17th.[27] Hülkenberg could not progress past the first session for the first time since 2012 from no brake feel and a minor driver error qualified him in 18th.[26][29] A lack of battery power put Chilton 19th and powertrain problems restricted Gutiérrez to 20th.[27] Lotterer in 21st out-qualified his Caterham teammate Ericsson in 22nd by almost a second.[26]

Qualifying classifiation

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 6 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2:07.130 2:06.723 2:05.591 1
2 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2:07.280 2:06.609 2:05.819 2
3 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 2:10.105 2:08.868 2:07.717 3
4 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 2:10.197 2:08.450 2:07.786 4
5 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 2:10.089 2:08.989 2:07.911 5
6 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 2:09.250 2:08.451 2:08.049 6
7 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 2:11.081 2:08.901 2:08.679 7
8 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 2:09.885 2:08.646 2:08.780 8
9 19 Brazil Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 2:08.403 2:08.833 2:09.178 9
10 22 United Kingdom Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2:10.529 2:09.272 2:09.776 10
11 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 2:10.445 2:09.377 11
12 25 France Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 2:09.811 2:09.805 12
13 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 2:10.666 2:10.084 13
14 99 Germany Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 2:11.051 2:10.238 14
15 8 France Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2:10.898 2:11.087 15
16 17 France Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 2:11.051 2:12.470 16
17 13 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 2:11.261 17
18 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2:11.267 18
19 4 United Kingdom Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 2:12.566 19
20 21 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 2:13.414 20
21 45 Germany André Lotterer Caterham-Renault 2:13.469 21
22 9 Sweden Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 2:14.438 22
107% time: 2:16.029
Source:[30]

Race

The race began from its standing start at 14:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).[31] Weather conditions at the start were dry with dark clouds,[32] and some rain had fallen.[33] The air temperature was between 13 to 15 °C (55 to 59 °F) and the track temperature ranged from 21 and 31 °C (70 and 88 °F);[34] forecasts on Sunday predicted rain to fall but not to the same intensity as on Saturday.[33] Every driver, except for Sutil, began on the soft compound tyres.[33] The soft compound tyre was predicted to be 13 seconds faster over a period of 15 laps and degradation rate research prompted most teams to put their drivers on a two-stop strategy.[32] As the Ferrari mechanics were about to start Alonso's car on the grid, it failed to respond because its battery had been emptied for unspecified reasons. They retrieved a jump-start battery from their garage and used it to start Alonso's Ferrari. This incurred Alonso a five-second time penalty that he was required to serve at his first pit stop since Ferrari had transgressed a regulation mandating all team personnel to vacate the track 15 seconds before the start of the formation lap.[32] Alonso's mechanics completed the installation of the spare battery before the last car passed him, allowing him to start from fourth.[35]

Although he stopped slightly outside of his grid slot and reversed to achieve the correct angle, Hamilton took advantage of his teammate Rosberg's slower getaway to lead going into the La Source hairpin.[36] Vettel out-braked Rosberg around the outside and passed him going down a steep hill towards Eau Rouge corner to put a slower vehicle in-between the two Mercedes. He deployed 160 hp (120 kW) of electrical energy on the Kemmel Straight as Hamilton attempted to prevent Vettel from clinging onto his slipstream by defending on the inside line. That encouraged Vettel to steer to the outside and he out-braked Hamilton on cold tyres. He locked up and used the run-off area to return to the track, rejoining in third, behind Rosberg but in front of Ricciardo.[32] Elsewhere, Bianchi and Grosjean made contact at the exit to the La Source hairpin, puncturing Bianchi's right-rear tyre and forcing him into the pit lane for a replacement wheel.[36] At the end of the first lap, Hamilton led his teammate Rosberg by half a second,[32] with Vettel in third. Alonso and Ricciardo rounded out the top five.[36] Maldonado became the first driver to retire from the Grand Prix with a suspected exhaust failure that caused smoke to emit from the rear of his car on lap two.[37]

Lewis Hamilton was put out of contention from contact with his teammate Rosberg on lap two. He subsequently implored his team Mercedes to retire him and was allowed to on the 39th lap.

That lap, Hamilton again went defensive but this time from Rosberg, his teammate, who slipstreamed him. Rosberg squeezed Hamilton on the outside line as his front wing was level with Hamilton's side pod when the two entered the first part of Les Combes corner.[32] As Hamilton was halfway through the left-hand turn,[36] his left-rear tyre was punctured by Rosberg's front right wing endplate. A section of endplate was launched airborne although much of Rosberg's front wing was structurally intact. Hamilton's tyre delaminated at the exit to Pouhon corner and it resulted in downforce-related bodywork damage.[32] He drove slowly to the pit lane and rejoined the race in 19th.[33][36] DRS was enabled on the third lap.[38] On that lap, Ricciardo's low-downforce setup allowed him to maximise his DRS and get past Alonso for third into Les Combes corner. Ricciardo quickly drew close to his teammate Vettel. After Vettel ran wide onto the damp artificial grass through Pouhon corner on lap five, he slid luridly and Ricciardo passed him for second.[32][36] On the lap,[36] Lotterer was retired from a loss of power, possibly caused by him driving over a kerb too hard at Blancimont turn.[39] Pérez passed Massa to take over ninth on lap six and Bottas used DRS to overtake Alonso for fourth on the Kemmel Straight.[33]

Rosberg was called into the pit lane at the end of lap eight for a replacement front wing and the medium compound tyres. He rejoined the race in 15th. Räikkönen made a pit stop on the same lap in Ferrari's attempt to put him ahead of Bottas and Vettel after the pit stops ended.[32] On lap 10,[33] a section of tyre carcass from Bianchi's punctured tyre wrapped itself around Rosberg's radio antenna and it diverted his attention before releasing itself.[32] Between laps 10 and 12, Vettel, Ricciardo, Bottas and Alonso made their first pit stops. After the pit stops, Ricciardo led Räikkönen by 2.4 seconds, with Vettel a further three seconds behind in third, Rosberg was fourth and Bottas fifth.[36] Vergne was overtaken for seventh at the Bus Stop chicane by Magnussen on the 15th lap.[33] Back in fourth, Rosberg's pit stop on the eighth lap compromised him strategy-wise and he could not pass Vettel on the straights. He attempted to out-brake Vettel on the outside at the Bus Stop chicane on lap 17, but he locked his tyres in the run-off area.[32] Bottas then slipstreamed Rosberg on the Kemmel Straight and used DRS to make an overtake for fourth.[32] Two laps later, Rosberg made a second pit stop to replace his flat-spotted tyres with the soft compounds and emerged in 11th.[32][33]

Räikkönen was almost eight seconds behind Ricciardo when Ferrari asked him to enter the pit lane on the 20th lap because his rear tyres had degraded enough to prompt a tyre change. On lap 21, Hamilton in 17th implored Mercedes to retire him because of his car's bodywork damage, but the team insisted he continue in anticipation of a safety car deployment.[32][38] Rosberg passed Pérez to take over seventh on lap 22.[33] That lap, Vettel who lapped in the 1 minute and 55 second range to Rosberg's 1 minute and 51 minute laps made his pit stop and emerged in eighth, behind Rosberg and Räikkönen.[32] During lap 23, Magnussen held off three challenges from Alonso for fourth.[36] That lap, Rosberg passed Button for sixth, only for Button to reclaim the position because Rosberg had a fuel limit issue.[38] On the following lap, Rosberg tried again on Button and was successful that time round. He gained a further place by passing Alonso on the Kemmel Straight for third on lap 25.[33] That lap, Hamilton got past Grosjean for 16th and Button lost fifth to Vettel at the Bus Stop chicane.[36]

Daniel Ricciardo (pictured at the Italian Grand Prix) took his second consecutive victory and claimed the third win of his career.

Ricciardo made his second pit stop from the lead at the conclusion of the 27th lap and had the medium compound tyres installed on his car.[33][36] He exited from his stop 3.7 seconds ahead of Rosberg in third. Bottas took the lead for one lap, before making his own stop at the end of the next lap and emerged in fifth place.[38] Bottas overtook Vettel on the outside at Les Combes corner and advanced to fourth on lap 30.[36] Four laps later, Grosjean retired from damage sustained to his Lotus at his second pit stop that removed a large amount of downforce.[37] After Ricciardo re-assumed the lead earlier, Rosberg's soft compound tyres had been worn and he could not match Ricciardo's pace. Mercedes decided to put Rosberg on a third pit stop to get the win from Ricciardo on the final lap. Red Bull responded by providing Ricciardo with a target lap of 1 minute and 53.400 seconds to prevent Rosberg from overtaking him and he achieved this consistently.[32] Rosberg's pit stop came at the end of lap 34 and he soon got back ahead of Bottas and Räikkönen to second by lap 36.[36]

Hamilton's request to retire was granted on the 39th lap and he entered the pit lane to be pushed into his garage.[33] Around that period, Bottas challenged his compatriot Räikkönen for third on the outside of Les Combes corner but Räikkönen prevented Bottas from completing an pass. Bottas attempted again on lap 40 and got by Räikkönen on the Kemmel Straight.[36] One lap later, Bianchi retired with a failed gearbox.[33] As Alonso slipstreamed Magnussen at 320 km/h (200 mph) on the Kemmel Straight and lapped Ericsson on lap 42, Magnussen steered to the right and Alonso put half of his Ferrari onto the grass to avoid a major crash. Alonso's loss of momentum allowed Button to overtake him into Les Combes corner. Button then failed to pass his teammate Magnussen at Rivage turn. That allowed Alonso and Vettel to get past Button for fifth and sixth. Alonso made a second attempt to pass Magnussen on lap 43 at Les Combes corner but it allowed Vettel to draw alongside him.[32] He tried for a third time at Rivage corner but was put into the grass and enabled Vettel to pass Alonso.[32]

Starting the final lap, Vettel overtook Magnussen into the La Source hairpin and Alonso attempted an pass on the inside of the latter. Alonso ended up with contact with the rear of Magnussen's car, breaking his front wing, and Button got ahead of Alonso for seventh.[33] Meanwhile, Ricciardo maintained his lead under pressure from Rosberg, and he crossed the start/finish line after 44 laps to take his second win a row, and the third of his career.[40] Rosberg in second followed 3.383 seconds behind Ricciardo and Bottas completed the podium finishers in third.[41] Off the podium, Räikkönen took his best result of the season in fourth and his highest finish since coming fourth in the 2013 Korean Grand Prix.[33][36] Magnussen finished fifth on the road and Vettel sixth. Button, Alonso, Pérez and Kvyat rounded out the top ten provisional finishers. Outside the top ten, Hülkenberg, Vergne, Massa, Sutil, Gutiérrez, Chilton, Ericsson and Bianchi were the final classified finishers.[41]

Post-race

At the podium interviews, conducted by former team owner Eddie Jordan,[42] Robserg was booed by the crowd four times for his contact with Hamilton on lap two,[43] which they perceived as intentional.[40] He blamed the reaction on a small minority of Hamilton's British support and urged them to review the regulations and the drivers' code of conduct before booing.[44] Ricciardo said that he had to maintain his lap times after Rosberg entered the pit lane and not hit anything. Rosberg spoke of his confidence that his team could have dominated because of their quick pace and Bottas said it would be difficult for Williams to win because of Mercedes' outright speed.[42] In the later press conference, Ricciardo stated that he had foreseen himself accruing enough points to put himself in contention for the Drivers' Championship. Rosberg revealed that his strategy was altered because of his car damage and declined to reveal details of the meeting with Mercedes after the Hungarian Grand Prix concerning envisaging contact with Hamilton. Bottas said his race was comprised by a poor getaway that caused him to be delayed by other cars but called the duel with compatriot Räikkönen "a clean and fair fight".[42]

The collision between Rosberg and Hamilton on lap two overshadowed the Grand Prix. The stewards investigated the incident and declared it "a racing incident", with neither driver in particular to blame.[45] Hamilton claimed after a meeting that Rosberg admitted he made contact with him wilfully to "prove a point" and that Hamilton could have avoided the situation. Rosberg initially denied any wrongdoing by saying he was faster and saw no risk in attempting the manoevure.[46] Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called Rosberg's driving "absolutely unacceptable" and the team's non-executive chairman Niki Lauda echoed his colleague's view, "If these things happen at the end of the race when they are fighting, we can talk about it. But on the second lap, it is ridiculous."[47] Rosberg denied Hamlton's version of the internal meeting two days after the race via a vlog and that there was "a very good and important discussion after the race, everybody gave their opinion and now we move forward".[48] The championship's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), stated Hamilton's claims did not warrant a review the contact under Article 13.10 of the FIA International Sporting Code, which states if "a new element was discovered" regardless of the stewards' decision, a fresh meeting had to be convened to address it.[49]

On August 29, Mercedes held a meeting between senior members of the team (including Wolff and technical director Paddy Lowe) and both drivers to determine what measures were to be taken to keep their championship ambitions on track.[50] Rosberg was given an undisclosed punishment during the half an hour conference and he and Hamilton were permitted to continue battling each other for the remainder of the season without the imposition of team orders favouring one driver over the other.[51] Rosberg accepted responsibility for causing the contact from an "error of judgement" and apologised to Hamilton and Mercedes and the series' fans.[52] Hamilton then said through a statement that he admitted mistakes during the rivalry with Rosberg over the course of the season but believed it would be an error to apportion blame to one driver, "There is a deep foundation that still exists for me and Nico to work from, in spite of our difficult times and differences."[51]

The stewards handed Magnussen a twenty-second time penalty after deeming he provided Alonso with inadequate space and forced him to run off the track on the Kemmel Straight while lapping Ericsson. This demoted Magnussen from fifth to twelfth, and promoted Alonso to seventh and Hülkenberg to tenth.[53] Alonso said he was not concerned since he was battling for position outside of the top five, "He was lapping a Caterham and we were all in the slipstream. I tried to overtake and he closed maybe a little bit too much because half the car was on the grass."[54] Magnussen said of the penalty, "Everyone around me had slightly fresher tyres and they're not the easiest guys to keep behind. So I just tried my best to defend my position as well as I could."[54] McLaren racing director Éric Boullier argued that Magnussen's move needed to be embraced by Formula One and stated his belief the driver had made adequate progress during the year,

"Obviously it is part of the experience he is gaining over the season. He is very motivated. He is new to the category and it is nice to see the big boys a pushing a little bit to show him 'stay behind, kid'. It is part of the learning process, so it is good. I think it is not easy to step into F1, especially with a top team. There is a lot of pressure in delivering when there is no more testing. It is not easy."[55]

The result of the race meant Rosberg increased his Drivers' Championship lead to 29 points over his teammate Hamilton in second place. Ricciardo's victory enabled to maintain the third position with 126 points, while Alonso's seventh-place finish allowed him to be eleven points ahead of Bottas in the battle for fifth.[5] In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes maintained their advantage with 411 points. Red Bull remained in the second position with 254 points. Ferrari in third place increased their advantage over Williams in fourth to ten points as McLaren's results moved them past Force India and into fifth with seven races left in the season.[5]

Race classification

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 1:24:36.556 5 25
2 6 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +3.383 1 18
3 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 44 +28.032 6 15
4 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 44 +36.815 8 12
5 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +52.196 3 10
6 22 United Kingdom Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +54.580 10 8
7 14 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 44 +1:01.162 4 6
8 11 Mexico Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 44 +1:04.293 13 4
9 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 44 +1:05.347 11 2
10 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 44 +1:05.697 18 1
11 25 France Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 44 +1:11.920 12
121 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 44 +1:14.262 7
13 19 Brazil Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 44 +1:15.975 9
14 99 Germany Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 44 +1:22.447 14
15 21 Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 44 +1:30.825 20
16 4 United Kingdom Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 43 +1 lap 19
17 9 Sweden Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 43 +1 lap 22
18 17 France Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 39 Gearbox 16
Ret 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 38 Collision damage 2
Ret 8 France Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 33 Power unit 15
Ret 45 Germany André Lotterer Caterham-Renault 1 Electrical 21
Ret 13 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1 Exhaust 17
Source:[41]

Notes:

  • ^1  — Kevin Magnussen originally finished sixth but had 20 seconds added to his race time for forcing Fernando Alonso off track.[54]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. ^ "Belgian Grand Prix – Preview 2014". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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Media related to 2014 Belgian Grand Prix at Wikimedia Commons


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