Rosberg took pole at Spa, but a lap-two collision with Hamilton opened the door, and Ricciardo won from fifth to give Red Bull its 50th Grand Prix victory.
Red Bull's 50th Grand Prix win came on 24 August, when Ricciardo started fifth and crossed the line first at Spa. Rosberg was second and Bottas third, after a lap-two collision between Rosberg and Hamilton had reshaped the race. It was his second win in a row.
From fifth on the grid, Daniel Ricciardo took the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas. Rosberg had taken pole, but he collided with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton on lap two, and Ricciardo's win gave Red Bull its 50th Grand Prix victory.
Spa was the 12th round of 19 and the 58th Belgian Grand Prix in the series. The race came four weeks after Ricciardo's win in Hungary, and a meeting between the Mercedes drivers three days before the weekend had tried to calm a tense title battle.
Who won the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix?
Ricciardo won the 44-lap race from fifth, Rosberg finished second and Bottas was third for Williams. It was Ricciardo's second win in a row and his third of his career. Rosberg mounted a late charge after his pit stop, but Ricciardo held his advantage and kept the lead to the flag.
Red Bull's win was its 50th in Grand Prix racing, which made it the fifth team to reach that figure. Hamilton retired with bodywork damage, and Rosberg increased his lead over him in the drivers table to 29 points, with Ricciardo third and Alonso fourth.
A pole, a lap-two collision between the Mercedes pair and a Red Bull win from fifth that carried the team to its 50th Grand Prix victory.
What was the title picture going into Spa?
Rosberg led the drivers championship with 202 points, 11 ahead of Hamilton in second. Ricciardo was third on 131 after winning Hungary four weeks earlier, Alonso fourth on 115 and Bottas fifth on 95. In the constructors table Mercedes had 393 points, Red Bull 213, Ferrari 142, Williams seven points further back and Force India 98.
At Hungary Hamilton had ignored team orders to let Rosberg past, and he finished third while Rosberg took fourth. The two drivers met on the night of 21 August, three days before the Belgian Grand Prix, to discuss how to defuse the situation. Hamilton said he wanted to recreate his best form from earlier in the year and put his below-par qualifying behind him.
Rosberg said he would not give up any advantage in the title battle, because the rest of the field was improving. He said the rivalry with Hamilton had been close all season and could stay that way to the last race, so every point would matter.
Who drove for each team at Spa?
There were eleven teams, each with two race drivers, and a single driver change. On the recommendation of Caterham's team owner, Colin Kolles, Andre Lotterer drove in place of Kamui Kobayashi. At 32 years and 288 days old, Lotterer was the oldest driver to make a Formula One debut since Giovanni Lavaggi at the 1995 German Grand Prix.
Marussia announced that Alexander Rossi would replace Max Chilton, citing contractual issues. The organisation representing Chilton said he had relinquished the role voluntarily. His seat was reinstated after Marussia made a successful request to the stewards, so Rossi drove only in the first practice session. Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde drove Gutierrez's car in that session.
How did practice and qualifying go at Spa?
Rosberg was fastest in the first practice session at 1:51.577, almost a tenth of a second ahead of Hamilton. Alonso stopped at the edge of Eau Rouge with engine problems, Raikkonen spun before the La Source hairpin, and Vettel's session ended early with an exhaust failure.
Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day in the second session at 1:49.189, and Rosberg was 0.604 seconds slower. Alonso was third, with Massa fourth and Button fifth. Maldonado ran onto the grass at Rivage and hit a barrier, which caused a red flag. He was checked at the medical centre and released with no injuries.
Vettel's ignition failed in one cylinder and damaged the engine, so he changed to an older unit that had been used at Hungary. That meant he avoided a ten-place grid penalty. Heavy overnight rain left the circuit damp, and Bottas set the fastest time of the final session at 1:49.465 as the track dried.
Qualifying took place in damp and then sunny conditions. Heavy rain and a hailstorm had hit before the session, and the uncertain weather led teams to run wet tyres. Rosberg took his fourth pole in a row, his seventh of the year and the 11th of his career, with a time of 2:05.591.
Hamilton started second on the front row after a brake disc was grazed, which made his car jerk. Vettel and Alonso were third and fourth, and Ricciardo was fifth after going wide at Blanchimont on his final lap. Bottas lost time in the first third of the lap and started sixth, with Magnussen seventh after flat-spotting his tyres at La Source.
Raikkonen was eighth after several driving errors, Massa ninth and Button tenth. Kvyat was the fastest driver outside the top ten but was demoted to 11th in the final seconds. Vergne was twelfth after an exhaust problem limited him to three timed laps, and Perez was thirteenth.
Button's DRS was lodged open in the first session, and Ericsson spun his Caterham at the La Source hairpin. In qualifying, Massa had a grazed front right disc and a tyre-warming problem on his warm-up lap, while Hulkenberg could not progress past the first session for the first time since the 2012 season.
Chilton was 19th after a lack of battery power, and Gutierrez was 20th after powertrain problems. Lotterer finished 21st, out-qualifying his Caterham team-mate Ericsson by almost a second to place 22nd.
How did the race start and what happened on lap two?
The race began at 14:00 Central European Summer Time. The air was between 13 and 15 degrees C, and the track between 21 and 31 degrees C. Every driver except Sutil started on soft tyres. Teams had calculated that the soft tyre would be about 13 seconds faster over 15 laps, which prompted most of them to plan two stops.
Alonso's car would not respond on the grid because its battery had been emptied. Ferrari fetched a jump-start battery from its garage and used it on his car, and Alonso took a five-second time penalty at his first pit stop. Hamilton used Rosberg's slower start to lead into La Source. Vettel braked later than Rosberg on the inside and passed him uphill towards Eau Rouge.
Vettel deployed electrical energy on the Kemmel Straight, and Hamilton tried to stop him getting into his slipstream by defending on the right. Vettel steered left and braked later than Hamilton on cold tyres, locked up and rejoined in third behind Rosberg. Bianchi and Grosjean made contact at the La Source exit, which punctured Bianchi's right-rear tyre.
Maldonado retired on lap two with an exhaust failure. On the same lap Rosberg slipstreamed Hamilton and took the outside line into Les Combes. His front wing was level with Hamilton's side pod, and as Hamilton turned in, Rosberg's front right endplate punctured Hamilton's left-rear tyre. A section of the endplate was thrown into the air, but much of Rosberg's front wing remained intact.
Hamilton's tyre delaminated at the exit of Pouhon and damaged his bodywork. He drove slowly to the pit lane and rejoined in 19th. Ricciardo used a low-downforce set-up to gain an efficient DRS pass on Alonso for third at Les Combes on lap three.
How did the race develop after the opening laps?
On lap five Vettel ran wide onto damp artificial grass at Pouhon, slid and let Ricciardo past for second. Lotterer retired on the same lap after a loss of power, possibly caused by driving over an exit kerb too hard at Blanchimont. Perez passed Massa for ninth on lap six, and Bottas used DRS to pass Alonso for fourth on the Kemmel Straight.
Ricciardo's advantage over Vettel grew, and Rosberg, who had damaged his front wing in the first-lap contact, pitted at the end of lap eight to replace it. That stop handed Ricciardo the lead. The Australian kept it while Rosberg closed in over the final ten laps.
Rosberg was booed by the crowd after the collision, and Mercedes gave him an undisclosed punishment. The two drivers were allowed to race each other without team orders. Ricciardo kept his lead, responded to the faster Rosberg, and took the flag for his second win in a row.
Race facts at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 August 2014 |
| Venue | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Wallonia |
| Track length | 7.004 km (4.352 mi), 20 turns |
| Race distance | 44 laps |
| Pole | Nico Rosberg, 2:05.591 |
| Winner | Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, from fifth |
| Podium | Rosberg (second), Bottas (third) |
| Round | 12th of 19 |
What did the result mean for the championship?
Rosberg extended his drivers lead to 29 points after Hamilton retired, and Ricciardo kept third in the table. Mercedes retained its constructors lead over Red Bull with seven races left in the season.
Red Bull's 50th win was a milestone for the team, and it came from a driver who had started fifth. A single collision on lap two had changed the shape of the title fight, even though the two Mercedes drivers were still racing each other hard at the flag.
