Hamilton and Rosberg collide as Ricciardo wins Belgian GP

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo took his second straight victory of the season at Spa after championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg made contact during the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix.At the start of the race, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel got a decent getaway and passed pole sitter Nico Rosberg for first and second spot. Vettel then challenged Hamilton at the Kemmel straight in a manner similar to last year. However, this time he failed to slow his car enough for Le Combs and ended up losing his second position to Rosberg.With Vettel having slipped behind, it was a one-on-one battle between the two Mercedes drivers for the lead of the race. Rosberg on the second lap of the race tried to get his nose ahead of Hamilton at Le Combs with bizarre consequences. Both the drivers made contact with Hamilton sustaining an immediate puncture and Rosberg damaging his front wing endplate.The incident ended Brit’s chances of scoring any points as he limped back to the pits for fresh rubber. The 2008 world champion continuously pleaded the team to retire his car as he failed to see any chances of him returning to the top 10. The Brackley based eventually called him inside the garage on lap 39.Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg was able to continue his race, albeit with a damaged front wing endplate. The German got a fresh nose when he made a regular stop on lap eight but those extra seven seconds in the pits eventually cost him the chance of standing on the top step of the podium.Behind all this drama, Daniel Ricciardo crucially passed teammate Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso during the opening stages of the race and then held off a charging Nico Rosberg(who was on a three stop strategy) to record his third victory of the season.With conditions bone dry, Valtteri Bottas and the Williams shined, with the Finn taking the final spot on the podium.Another man from Finland who performed brilliantly today was Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 world champion scored his best result of the season with a fourth place finish at Spa, a circuit where he’s had good track record in the past. It was also the first time he beat Fernando Alonso with the Spaniard seemingly having no pace in the car on a low downforce track. He was also hurt by a five second stop/go penalty which was handed over when his mechanics continued to work on his car on the grid while the 15 seconds pre-formation laps warning light was shown. He was classified eight at the chequered flag - his second worst result of the season.Sebastian Vettel came on top in a gruelling four way fight between him, the McLaren pairing of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button as well as the aforementioned Fernando Alonso.The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg overtook multiple cars off the line from their poor grid spots but a ninth and 12th place result couldn’t prevent them from being leapfrogged by McLaren in the constructors standings.Daniil Kvyat took the final championship point with a 10th place result.