Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described Lewis Hamilton’s performance at the Belgian Grand Prix as “faultless”, after the Briton held off Sebastian Vettel to take his fifth win of the year.
Hamilton led away from pole position and kept a buffer back to Vettel, only to come under pressure following a Safety Car period.
Mercedes, without fresh Ultrasoft tyres, fitted a set of the slower, Soft compound to Hamilton’s car, whereas pursuer Vettel was able to take on another batch of the purple-ringed rubber.
Hamilton preserved his lead at the restart, unintentionally benefitting from being in the correct engine mode, meaning Vettel was too close as the pair rounded La Source.
Vettel, carrying greater speed, was forced to back off as Hamilton eased to “90 per cent” throttle, before the Mercedes driver stayed ahead on the run to Les Combes.
From there, Hamilton went on to keep Vettel at bay to move to within seven points of his rival in the standings.
“That was a fantastic drive from Lewis to finish off a perfect weekend from him,” said Wolff.
“It was a great result for the championship and a faultless performance. He defended well on the opening lap then it was a battle lap by lap to stretch out the gap to Sebastian.
“After the pit stop, we saw a small blister on one of his rear tyres and we had some question marks about whether they would last to the finish.
“Then the Safety Car came out and made the decision easier for us.
“We had a discussion about which tyres to fit – we didn't have a new set of Ultrasoft remaining, and the team on the pit wall knew that the Soft would be the better tyre over the stint – if we could defend in those first laps after the restart.
“As Lewis showed, it was the right decision, and he delivered a great win.”
Hamilton’s team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, came home a low-key fifth.
