Belgium Grand Prix: Chaos and drama as Nico Rosberg cruises and Lewis Hamilton fights to podium

The dramatic opening laps shook up the race: Max Verstappen caused problems for the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, later claiming they’d turned into him as he tried to go up the inside, and meanwhile Nico Rosberg raced away in his Silver Arrow. The yellow flags waved constantly, with debris all over the track from punctures plus Carlos Sainz’s tyre blowing up, until their red counterparts replaced them on lap 10 following Kevin Magnussen’s terrible crash into a barrier; the track couldn’t be cleared without a tractor, which necessitated a pause.

Yet as we have seen so many times, with a Mercedes out in front, staying clear of trouble, the race for the chequered flag is essentially over. Their pace and reliability are both so good that the top spot of the podium is more or less guaranteed, and so it was for Rosberg. With long laps too he wasn’t held up by any lapped traffic, making his cruise to the end even more straightforward.

Four stars out of five. He started from the back of the grid rather than the pit lane – and by the time the red flags came out, he was fifth. Yes, fifth. A break like that – where tyres can be changed – means strategy has to be instantly re-thought. He was in the podium places before the race was even halfway through, and never really looked like he wouldn’t finish in the top three. Some laughed in the week, confident that a 55-place penalty would mean no points for the defending champion. He had other ideas – and the best car in the field, of course.

Kimi Raikkonen was extremely angry with Max Verstappen, let’s put it that way. He cast doubt on his driving and his motives, ranting over the radio to his team. Raikkonen is one of the most taciturn of men, not letting his feelings show very often – and if he does it’s through some well-chosen expletives. However, Verstappen has lit a temper in the Finn.

It’s always lovely to see some terrific driving, and Hamilton did that as he worked his way up from the back of the field, avoiding punctures, and then overtook Fernando Alonso on the Kemmel Straight, smooth as you like.

Sebastian Vettel’s overtake of Verstappen on La Source after 26 laps was a delight – then the teenager took the place back in the straight with the help of DRS. After some vicious aggressive driving with too much contact throughout, it was good to see some skill rather than brute force as they fought for position.

This race is always intriguing because the laps are so long – the longest on the circuit – so it’s difficult to see how things are panning out until the very final stages. With sunny, hot weather all weekend, tyre strategy was discussed passionately among fans, teams and drivers – and then the chaos of the opening 10 laps plus the red flag put paid to much of it. Hamilton certainly benefited from it – he chose his pits well, emerging into clean air rather than the bunched-up crushes further up the field. Then he found himself in a bind, safely in third but outpaced by second-placed Daniel Ricciardo in the middle sector, and needing to make one more stop to take him to the end. It came on Lap 33, and it was sizzlingly quick to get him on to the mediums and then to the podium.

We don’t have to say it often, but the people who design F1 cars and make them as safe as they are deserve a debt of gratitude from us all. To see Magnussen’s car crumple the way it did, to see the chassis twist and the headrest fly away, and then to see the driver get up and walk away with nothing but a limp is incredible.

What happened to Jenson Button? Terrific qualifying, then ended up caught in the mire and the melee of the opening laps, clipped by Pascal Wehrlein. Not a good day – and the veteran has had far too many of those in recent seasons. Still, it wasn’t all bad news for McLaren: Fernando Alonso, who had a terrible weekend, drove without some of his key data and still finished seventh.

Minimal opportunities, unless you like spotting former F1 drivers: Jonathan Palmer, there to support son Jolyon, and Mark Webber, who's just turned 40 this weekend, was the man doing the podium interviews. He got to talk to his compatriot Ricciardo, and embraced the so-called shoey celebration.