Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain on his way to victory at Spa. Photo / AP
Even the Sky Sports F1 commentators had to admit the Belgian Grand Prix will be a fairly forgettable race, except of course for world champion-elect for a seventh time, Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton, who started from pole position, had the luxury of knowing his Mercedes team wouldn't let teammate Valtteri Bottas turn up the engine's wick to help him challenge for the lead, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen had what he described as a "boring" race knowing third was the best he could do as long as the Mercedes duo kept going or didn't suffer tyre delineation as they did at Silverstone.
Sky Sport commentator David Croft, clearly pro-Hamilton, was actually hoping it would either rain or the Mercedes would have tyre issues, to make the race more interesting to boost the TV ratings, given this was yet another crowd-free event. With 10 laps to go Hamilton was on the car team radio saying he didn't like the feel of his front right tyre, Verstappen was also complaining about a vibration. So, with no tyre delineation and no rain, the Mercedes one-two finish was assured, and Hamilton took his fifth win in seven races and 89th F1 victory. He is now just two short of Michael Schumacher's record of 91 wins.
This race was a tale of three teams essentially. Mercedes at the head of the field, the resurgence of Renault, whose drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon were 4th and 5th respectively, and the continuing woes at Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel starting from 13th and 14th on the grid and finishing in the same positions, albeit Vettel ahead of Leclerc.
Considering the latter won this race last year for his maiden F1 victory, to finish way out of the points is a serious fall from grace for the team that gets a $100 million bonus each year from the F1 commercial rights holders, Liberty Media, as reward for its loyalty in being the only team still racing that existed when the F1 championship started in 1950.
Last year the FIA investigated the power unit [PU] used by Ferrari, which the other teams suspected was illegal.
The FIA announced at the end of the season that it had reached a "settlement" with Ferrari but refused to release any details, leaving the other teams guessing whether the power units were illegal or not. The picture is now much clearer. Whatever the FIA told Ferrari, this season the power loss is obvious for all to see. Team Principal Matteo Binotto has had to admit recently that the FIA investigation has affected the team.
"Since last year a lot of TDs [FIA technical directives] have been released, eventually clarifying some of the areas of the regulations," Binotto explained.
"I think that through those directives we had to adapt ourselves. I don't think it was only the case of Ferrari, I think looking at the power output of this season I think most of the other manufacturers had to adapt themselves."
The problem with Binotto's explanation is that as the other teams don't' know what the problem was with the Ferrari PU was, so how could they adapt?
As Verstappen proclaimed last year, Ferrari was probably cheating and had to make fundamental changes that embarrassingly see them becoming midfield runners.
But Binotto believes the cars' performance at Spa is "related to this weekend".
"We have not been able to understand how to make the tyres work."
Vettel, who is set to leave the team at the end of the year and has not yet had his rumoured drive at Aston Martin, currently known as Racing Point, confirmed for next year, hopes Binotto is right.
"Hopefully the problems are Spa specific," he told Sky F1. "The package is what it is. We need to stay optimistic and see the good things, even if there are not many."
Next week F1 goes to Monza for the Italian GP. It may be a blessing in disguise that the loyal tifosi are not allowed to attend the race, which Leclerc also won last year.
"It is extremely frustrating," Leclerc said after the Spa result. "It was a very difficult weekend for us. The race wasn't exactly easy either. We had problems at both my pit stops. I lost some time and positions as a result."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the finger can be pointed at "certain team members" for the problems at Ferrari without saying who they are.
"Ferrari is an iconic brand and they should be racing at the very front. It's not good for Formula 1, it's not good for the competition at the front."
Hamilton, who now has a 47-point lead in the championship over Verstappen, also recognises that Mercedes' continuing success is not good for F1 either.
"I know it's not necessarily what everyone wants to see, Mercedes at the front," he told Sky F1. "But no matter how much success we have we just keep our heads down. When I go back into the office there will be no guys celebrating, they will be thinking 'okay, how can we win the next race?'
"It's an incredible mentality and environment to work in, we continue to learn about ourselves and how we improve weekend in weekend out."
When Bottas was trying to get within one second of Hamilton so he could use DRS, he radioed the team to ask if there was an opportunity to switch to a higher power mode.
Bottas: "We have one push, no?"
Team Engineer: "We do but we agreed not to use it against each other."
Bottas: "I never heard that."
Wolff later confirmed that "there are no rules in place between the drivers. They are allowed or free to race."
But then he said there was an agreement they would not use the power boost against each other, even though Bottas was adamant he wasn't aware of such an arrangement.
Bottas is clearly the number two driver, just as Rubens Barrichello was for Schumacher. When Nico Rosberg drove alongside Hamilton, he was prepared to go against team orders, but there is no sign that Bottas is prepared to risk a contract that allows him to drive the second quickest car on the grid. In reality, he is more a journeyman than a potential world champion and will never beat Hamilton.
The same could not be said if Verstappen was Hamilton's teammate, but drivers these days seem reluctant to have a teammate they may not beat.
When Alain Prost was with McLaren in 1987, he persuaded Ron Dennis to sign Ayrton Senna for 1988, even though he knew he would have a teammate that was equally as good, if not better, than he was. Senna won the championship in 88 although Prost beat him the following year, by which time the two weren't on speaking terms. Bottas is too nice to take the fight to Hamilton
Verstappen had a lonely race apart from a short spell when it looked like Ricciardo might get past him.
"To be honest, it was pretty boring. There wasn't much to do," Verstappen said. "I couldn't keep up with the Mercedes when they started pushing. I ran out of tyres at the end of the race, so in the last eight laps we mainly saved the front tyres."
Ironically, Hamilton says Red Bull's problem is they have a good car, but Verstappen doesn't have a teammate in Alex Albon, who finished 6th, who can assist him.
"Unfortunately, both drivers aren't there like me and Valtteri are," Hamilton observed, tongue firmly in cheek.
"That makes it harder for them. I've experienced that myself many years ago when I was at McLaren and I was the driver always at the front."
That is not exactly correct. When paired with Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007 they both won four races and scored the same number of points. And in 2011 Jenson Button was his teammate and beat Hamilton.
Next to Hamilton, the happiest driver to leave Spa would have been Ricciardo. Fourth place was a great result for him at the Renault team he leaves at year-end to join McLaren. Yet to podium with Renault, Riccardo has a bet with team boss Cyril Abiteboul, who agreed to get matching tattoos if Ricciardo makes the podium.
"I feel our podium this year, if it happens, will be overshadowed by the tattoo!" he quipped.
For Ocon, 5th place was his best finish of the year and he described it as a strong weekend. Apart from the now traditional taking of the knee ceremony by some drivers prior to the race to pay homage to equality in F1, the drivers also paid tribute to F2 driver Antoine Hubert, who was tragically killed in a crash at the circuit last year.
"Coming here has been tough. I always think about Antoine," Ocon said. "He would be pleased to see Renault up there today."
During the race there was a major incident when Antonio Giovinazzi lost control of his Alpha Romeo and hit the barrier. A wheel came off and collected the Williams of George Russell, who had nowhere to go.
"If I went to the right, that's where Antonio's car was, and at the left side of the track, I had massive impact with a tyre," Russell recalled. "But I have to say you feel much safer in the car now with the halo."
At least he started the race whereas McLaren driver Carlos Sainz had a PU failure on the way to the grid, and to add to his conjecture, sat on the pit wall watching the Ferrari team he will join next year, continue to falter.