Hamilton holds off Vettel to win Belgian GP

Three-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton came out with yet another tremendous performance as he won the Belgian Grand Prix here at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.

Hamilton took a narrow victory over Sebastian Vettel to reduce the Ferrari driver's championship lead from 14 to seven points.

The race marked his 200th win of the Briton's career and his fifth win in Belgium.

"It has been a strong weekend for myself and the team, I am really grateful for all of their hard work," said the three-time World Champion after the win.

"Sebastian put up a great fight but this is what I said I was going to do and I did it," he added.

Just 2.3 second separated the title rivals at the chequered flag, as Daniel Ricciardo secured an unexpected podium for Red Bull with third place.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen stood at the fourth spot, the Finn having been given a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags when the luckless Max Verstappen retired his Red Bull with power loss on Lap 8, reports formula1.com.

Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas was fifth for Mercedes and Nico Hulkenburg stood at the sixth spot. Haas' Romain Grosjean grabbed the seventh position.

-ANI