F1 leader looks at penalty in Belgium

While Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton expects to swallow a severe grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg hopes to take advantage.

Hamilton won six of the past s e ven ra c e s t o t urn a 43 - p o i n t d e f i c i t i n t o a 19-point lead heading into the summer break.

But, after being hampered by mechanical woes during the early part of the season, the British driver has used up his five allotted engine component parts, including the turbo charger. That means he must take on new components, either here or at the Italian GP next weekend, leading to a grid penalt y and demotion to the back of the grid.

“As far I am aware we will be taking the penalty here. I have no engines left,” Hamilton said Thursday. “We already discussed engine penalties before and that will come into play, but I will do everything I can to minimize the damage.”

Mercedes has yet to confirm whether the penalt y will be taken in Spa-Francorchamps, where a win for Rosberg would give him 25 points and, depending on Hamilton’s result, even out the championship standings.

Although starting from the back of the grid all but rules out the chance of a 50th career win for Hamilton in Spa, the nature of the track — one of the best for overtaking — gives him a better chance of points than he would get in Monza next week.

Two years ago in Hungary, Hamilton started from the back and finished third. But he thinks rivals Red Bull and Ferrari are faster than they were back then.

Nashville superspeedway sold: Dover Motorsports Inc. announced that Panattoni Development Company, a commercial re al estate developer, will buy the 1.33-mile concrete superspeedway for $27.5 million and bond obligations worth another $17.2 million.

The track opened in 2001, only to be closed in 2011.