Belgian Grand Prix: F1 – live! | Sport

Lap 27/44: More movement in the pit-lane, with Ericsson and Magnussen both in for the Sauber and Haas respectively. Ricciardo remains the back marker.

Lap 26/44: Vettel stretches his legs, and he has established a little more breathing space. Hamilton trails him by 3.1sec, with Ferrari still very much in the box-seat. Bottas is a mighty 30sec behind Verstappen, who will pit imminently. He’s well on his way to potentially his first ever podium finish in Belgium. A 2.5sec stop sees the Red Bull come out comfortably in third place.

Lap 25/44: “Use everything for the tyre,” is the instruction for Pérez over the team radio. That usually means only one thing: he’s heading for the pits. Bottas is having great fun out there, up into fourth temporarily.

Lap 24/44: Bottas, meanwhile, is up into seventh place. Can he nab a podium finish? Vettel has flown through the middle sector, but it’s Hamilton who sets a new fastest lap of 1.46.721. Those new tyres are ripping their way round the circuit. And now Romain Grosjean, from down in eighth, pits. A clean stop sees him out inside 3secs. In third, Verstappen is yet to pit but will surely be in shortly.

Lap 23/44: .. Vettel comes out ahead of Hamilton, but only just. The Mercedes uses the slipstream to bypass Verstappen to take back second and now the gap to Vettel is just over 1.5sec. That’s almost the perfect outcome for Hamilton, who has Vettel firmly in his sights.

Lap 22/44: Vettel is whizzing round, trying to up the ante before heading into the pits. Ferrari are ready to receive. But can they get him out in front of Verstappen and Hamilton? They’ll also whack on the soft tyre.

Lap 21/44: Hamilton pits from second, ditching the supersoft for the mid-range soft tyre. He’s in and out in no time. And now Ferrari will react by pitting Vettel …

Lap 20/44: “Tyres are good,” Hamilton says, adamant he’s still got grip. Hamilton sounds upbeat, despite a few worries over blistering. Vettel leads him by 3.1sec.

Lap 19/44: a nugget of news on Raikkonen; Ferrari retired the car because it had a broken rear diffuser and rear-end plate, which they couldn’t fix in time. As Bottas continues to eat up the rest of the field, he closes on Magnussen, while Hamilton is edging closer to the race leader Vettel.

Lap 18/44: Bottas leans on DRS to sweep his way past a hapless Gasly. The Mercedes is gobbling up drivers for fun. Bottas is into eighth, with Magnussen 3sec in front of him.

Lap 17/44: Another fastest lap by Hamilton … while Ricciardo’s on the team radio lamenting the pace of his Red Bull. He’ll need a miracle to finish this race anything but last. Up in the points, Bottas wings his way past Ericsson to snatch ninth. The message to the defeated Sauber is strikingly ambitious, too. “Let’s use Bottas to get past Gasly,” they tell him. Let’s see about that.

Lap 16/44: Encouraging news for Hamilton, with the Mercedes setting a new fastest lap of 1.48.479. He’s shaved Vettel’s lead to 3.7sec, but there’s still plenty of work to do. Has Hamilton been saving that one up?

Lap 15/44: Valtteri Bottas is up into 10th, with Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber next in his sights. After starting down in 17th, he’s already bypassed Sirotkin, Stroll and co. The Finn is up into the points and he’ll fancy his chances of flying through the field, and edging closer towards his Mercedes team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, who’s in second.

Lap 14/44: The Force Indias are parked in fourth and fifth, with Grosjean behind them in sixth. At the front, Hamilton is struggling to gain any ground on Vettel, while Verstappen is almost 12 seconds behind the Mercedes.

Lap 13/44: Christian Horner, the Red Bull chief, talks, with Max Verstappen buzzing, though Ricciardo, at the very back of the field, is having a torrid time. Horner says: “Daniel was unlucky to get harpooned by Fernando, that damaged the rear wing pretty bad but the boys have done brilliantly to get that turned round pretty quickly.” As for whether Verstappen can upset the front two, he adds: “I don’t think we’ve got the pace in clean air compared to Vettel and Hamilton, but I think our main race is really against Bottas.”

Lap 12/44: Vettel sets a new fastest lap of 1.48.495. The Ferrari has doubled his lead over Hamilton to almost 4sec, that pace is really troubling Mercedes. As Hamilton alluded to, Ferrari are lightning through the straights.

Lap 11/44: We’ve lost four cars in 11 laps. Plenty of drivers have gained as a result, though, with Bottas soaring up into 11th after starting at the back of the field. He’s got past Lance Stroll and his next target is Sirotkin.

Lap 10/44: Max Verstappen, who was born in Belgium, whizzes past Pérez, and he’s up into third. In stark contrast to his Red Bull team-mate, Ricciardo, Verstappen is absolutely loving this. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso has given his side of the story of that crash at turn one of the first lap, as well as sticking the boot into Hülkenberg. “I’m happy Charles [Leclerc] is fine, and it’s proof of how good the halo is,” he says. “In that moment, you are not concentrating what is going on, you’re just sad and disappointed. It’s difficult to understand how you can miss the breaking point.”

Lap 9/44: Räikkönen is back in the pits – again! Ah, and his race is over. He accumulated a stack of damage into that first corner, a rear-wing issue and a puncture, and he’ll join Leclerc and co down on the sidelines.

Lap 8/44: Räikkönen’s been in the pits, his tyres steaming but his engineers look static, the scene is as though he’s serving a penalty, although there has been no official confirmation of such a thing. With the Ferrari struggling and Ricciardo way back, and a lap behind, it’s a marvellous chance for lesser teams to grab some points.

Lap 7/44: Vettel has a 2.2sec lead over Hamilton, with the Ferrari absolutely flying. The Mercedes badly needed to steal back top spot, but appeared to lock up a little into the corner after the safety car restart. And now Verstappen has just trumped Ocon through the first sector, much to the delight of a pocket of Dutch fans that have made the trip over the border to Spa. Grosjean’s in sixth.

Lap 6/44: Vettel sets a new fastest lap of 1.48.656 and he’s hurtling round the track, with Hamilton on his tail. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc looks fed up as he trudges back towards the pits. His race was over within seconds.

Lap 5/44: Verstappen’s fifth, Gasly is up to eighth, Sirotkin into ninth. The back marker is Ricciardo, and he’s a full lap behind the rest of the runners and riders.

Lap 4/44: Vettel zooms away, but Hamilton reads his move all the way, but fails in his efforts to nip back past him. The Kemmel straight allows the Ferrari to open up a bit of a gap and he’s staying in front, for now at least. Ocon has dropped to fourth, almost a second behind Pérez.

Lap 3/44: A truly chaotic start in Spa. To recap, it’s a premature ending for Leclerc, Alonso and Hülkenberg, who are all out of the race after a crazy run in turn one. Alonso flew through the air, crashing down on to Leclerc, who is absolutely furious. Hülkenberg was responsible for that domino effect, his brakes seemingly redundant. As for Ricciardo, will he be back for Red Bull, or his afternoon over as well? Now, the safety car will accelerate away ..

Lap 2/44: Plenty to investigate after a frantic start to the race into turn one. Red Bull are trying to attach a rear wing to Daniel Ricciardo’s car, telling the Australian to sit tight but he’ll come out a couple of laps behind, even if they can magic a solution. His wing came flying off in that first-turn melee. Leclerc, meanwhile, is also out as a result of that clash between Alonso and Hülkenberg. There’s a full safety car, with Räikkönen profiting and getting a new tyre on board. As for Vettel, he had a much better run down Eau Rouge and Hamilton was powerless to prevent the Ferrari flying past him. It will be role-reversal when the race restarts in a moment or two. Wow!

Crikey … Fernando Alonso crashes out after a crowded turn one, rammed from behind by Nico Hülkenberg, who completely locked up. Alonso flies up into the air, over the Sauber but both drivers look OK. Hamilton and Vettel go neck-and-neck but after an even start, Vettel nips in front to take the lead! And Räikkönen’s got a puncture.

A quick weather report, and a few figures: it’s overcast out on track, there’s an air temperature of almost 18 degrees, a wind speed of almost 10kph and humidity of 38.5%. We’re moments away from the off …

Spa is absolutely rammed with fans, plenty of the Vandoorne clan are in the house, as you’d expect. This has the makings of another classic. We’re just a lazy formation lap away from the off. The spectacular Ardenne forest will provide a fitting backdrop for the 73rd Belgian GP.

No Formula 1 driver has won more races at Spa than Michael Schumacher’s six. After success last year, Lewis Hamilton is on the hunt for his fourth victory in Belgium, while Vettel has won twice, most recently in 2013.

Sebastian Vettel, like a pantomime villain, has had his say. “As long as we get him [Hamilton], that’s the game plan,” he says, hot-footing it from the pit to his car. Hamilton is 24 points in front of him, and has welcomed the pressure of what increasingly seems a two-horse race. “I can’t tell you how Sebastian feels with the pressure. I can only tell you the pressure on me. It’s as great as it can be. But I wouldn’t want it any other way,” he said. “As humans, pressure leads us to try to do extraordinary things, to evolve, to push the envelope, to be better in all areas.”

Kevin Magnussen speaks. “We have a bit of an opportunity with the Renaults starting at the back. We need to make use of that and get a good result for both cars. It’s a really great track to race at, you just have to stay focused.”

Weather update: it’s of course tipping it down in the UK, with rain moving east towards the west coast of Belgium. Spa seemingly has its own weather system. And after a foggy and misty start, the FIA are saying there’s a 20% chance of rain but, on the ground, the officials seem relaxed about it all. For now, it’s dry and fairly sunny.

Stoffel Vandoorne, born in Kortrijk on the edge of the French border, has been chatting away about racing on home soil. “It’s a special feeling to race in front of a home crowd,” he says. “I hope we can bring back a result.” As for Nico Hülkenberg, who starts down in 18th, he says: “I just want to have a bit of fun out there. We had to swallow the penalty, coming from the back, we will see what happens.”

A quick nugget on Ocon’s future, with the Frenchman in limbo after Renault swooped for Daniel Ricciardo, the first of seemingly many chess moves. The 21-year-old Mercedes protege had looked set to replace on-loan Spaniard Carlos Sainz at Renault until Ricciardo suddenly decided to leave Red Bull. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes chief who will dictate his future to a degree, says: “There are a few teams in for Esteban, and he will be in F1 next year, that’s for sure. He will not be kicked out.”

1 Hamilton 2 Vettel
3 Ocon 4 Pérez
5 Grosjean 6 Räikkönen
7 Verstappen 8 Ricciardo
9 Magnussen 10 Gasly
11 Hartley 12 Leclerc
13 Ericsson 14 Alonso
15 Sirotkin 16 Stroll
17 *Bottas 18 *Hülkenberg
19 *Sainz Jr 20 *Vandoorne

*Bottas and Hülkenberg moved to the back of the grid for taking additional power unit elements, while Sainz and Vandoorne have since changed their engines

As always seems to be the way, Lewis Hamilton weathered the storm in treacherous conditions to take his 78th career pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton leads Vettel, who described Ferrari’s qualifying as scrappy, by 24 points but has been playing some textbook mind games, rubbishing suggestions he is the favourite to take victory at Spa-Francorchamps. He has a midas touch on the wet yet the world champion says he would prefer a dry circuit, given how Vettel can attack at him from the get-go, with a little help from the slipstream on the long run to the Les Combes chicane. Sounds familiar? Hamilton held off Vettel all-race long last year, despite the Mercedes lapping slower. He also won here in 2010 and 2015, winning the title in the latter. “They [Ferrari] have been favourites for quite a few races but we have managed to turn it on its head,” Hamilton said. “These guys are incredibly quick on the straights. We’ll see.”

Lights out: 2.10pm (BST)