F1: Lewis Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix to extend lead

Lewis Hamilton's fifth win in the last seven races extended his championship lead over Max Verstappen to 47 points with just 10 of this season's 17 races remaining. 

Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas came in 8.4 seconds behind him but ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, meaning the Finn cut the gap to second place in the standings after Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. 

Daniel Ricciardo, who took the extra point for fastest lap, finished fourth ahead of team mate Esteban Ocon who snatched fifth from Red Bull's Alexander Albon on the final lap.

But it was another low point for Ferrari. The Italian team has won in Belgium for the last two years but Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc failed to muster a point between them, finishing 13th and 14th respectively. Ferrari are yet to win a race this season.

Sunday's victory was Hamilton's 89th career win, meaning he moves to within two wins of Michael Schumacher's Formula One record and takes another step closer to equalling the German driver's record of seven career titles.

But the 35-year-old said it wasn't as simple as it looked. "It wasn't the easiest of races. The tire temperatures were slowly dropping. It was a bit of a struggle." 

Hamilton was also keen to praise his team, who look set for another constructor's title. "No matter how much success we have we keep our heads down. It's an incredible mentality to work around."

Most of Sunday's drama came earlier on though, after a serious crash involving Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi and Williams' George Russell. Both managed to emerge unscathed.

There were also emotional scenes during a minute's silence held before the race in memory of French driver Anthoine Hubert, who died here last year following a horrific crash during an F2 race. 

mp/ft (AFP, AP)