Lewis Hamilton given chance for first win of 2022 as rivals dealt grid penalties

Lewis Hamilton has been handed the best chance of winning his first race of the season after Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were dealt grid penalties for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who has been an unstoppable force this year, and Leclerc – the Ferrari driver whose title challenge has faltered through faults by man and machine – are among six drivers to be punished for exceeding their number of allocated engine parts as Formula One returns to action following its summer shutdown.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher of Haas will also be penalised.

Depending on how the penalties unravel, Verstappen and Leclerc will start somewhere in the final quarter of the 20-man grid for Sunday’s 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps.

After losing out so controversially to Verstappen in last year’s contentious title decider in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton, in his under-performing Mercedes machinery, endured a turbulent start to the season.

But the 37-year-old headed into the recent one-month break with renewed vigour following five consecutive podiums, including two back-to-back runner-up finishes in France and Hungary at the end of July.

When Hamilton takes to the grid here, 265 days will have passed since his last triumph – victory in Saudi Arabia, the penultimate round of last season.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION Verstappen tops the session... comfortably