Mercedes AMG F1's straight-line speed advantage over their rivals is well known, but fans still hoped that Ferrari would continue the close battles that have defined this year's fight for the drivers' world championship. However, after the chaotic and wet qualifying session and a completely dry race, Lewis Hamilton led teammate Valtteri Bottas home for a dominant 1-2 for the reigning constructors' world champions while the best Ferrari could manage was a third place for Sebastian Vettel and fifth for Kimi Raikkonen after Red Bull-Renault's Daniel Ricciardo manged to jump him.
Ricciardo completed a stunning 38 out of the 53 laps of the race on one set of tyres before pitting and then setting off after the Ferraris on the much faster super-soft Pirellis. The Australian's fourth place finish was even more impressive given that grid penalties after qualifying dropped him to 16th from 3rd.
Hamilton held on to the lead at the start and never relinquished it except for during his tyre stop when Bottas assumed the lead after disposing of Williams-Mercedes' Lance Stroll and Force India-Mercedes' Esteban Ocon. The two youngsters had benefitted from the wet conditions in qualifying and grid penalties for the Red Bull Racing drivers. But with the race being run in dry conditions, they gradually fell behind the top three of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Only Max Verstappen was missing from the top six after puncturing his right-front tyre while attempting an overtaking maneuver.
Mercedes' huge advantage over Ferrari is unlikely to hold up over the next two Grands Prix in Singapore and Malaysia where Ferrari's short-wheelbase and good downforce is expected to give both Vettel and Raikkonen the tools to challenge for victory. The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, however, is likely to be a close battle between Hamilton and Vettel, much in the same manner as the Belgian Grand Prix.
Behind the top five of Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen; Ocon emerged victorious in an intense battle for sixth place involving Stroll and his Williams-Mercedes teamamate Felipe Massa. The other Force India of Sergio Perez and Verstappen completed the top ten of the classification.
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