Lewis Hamilton was open about how hard the win in Belgium had been, hounded to the flag by Sebastian Vettel. His defence on the opening lap with Vettel almost alongside him going down the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes was textbook but the second time after the safety car restart was in another league. He admitted he had been lucky in selecting the wrong power mode before the last corner which kept Vettel close to him – an advantage in denying him the car lengths he needed to gain momentum and get a good tow. But he followed it with the racecraft of champions – using only 90% of throttle going down to Eau Rouge to keep Vettel tucked up under his rear wing, then finally applying maximum beans through Eau Rouge – where at the top Vettel had no room to propel himself and could only pull out alongside. Hamilton then topped it with a masterclass on the brakes into Les Combes. On cold rubber, with his title rival parallel with him and the race in the balance, his touch was glorious.
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