Belgian Grand Prix – Vettel wins yet again to extend Championship lead

Sebastian Vettel dominated the Belgian Grand Prix from start-to-finish to extend his championship lead to 46 points.

Vettel took the lead on the opening lap, cruising passed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton on the straight. From then on, the three-time world champion ran away with it and ended up finishing almost 17 seconds ahead of second place man, Fernando Alonso.

Pole-sitter, Lewis Hamilton, took the final podium position despite starting the race in pole position. The Mercedes could not match the straight line speed of the Red Bulls and seemed to struggle on the low-downforce package on his car.

Hamilton’s teammate, Nico Rosberg, had a relatively comfortable race and finished just off the podium in fourth. Mark Webber finished his final race at the legendary Spa track in fifth place.

It was a bad day for Kimi Raikkonen, who had to retire from the race with a brake problem. The problem was visible for many laps, with brake dust coming off the front-left wheel of the lotus every time Raikkonen braked. The retirement was the first time in 38 races that Raikkonen had not finished a race, which is some record.

Sebastian Vettel won the Belgium GP.

Pole position man, Hamilton, got a great start off the line, unlike Webber who fell back to sixth place. This allowed Rosberg, Button and Alonso to all move up from their grid positions. It didn’t take long for Vettel to take the lead, with the Red Bull able to carry more speed up the Eau Rouge hill and onto the straight. The World Champion moved alongside Hamilton and drove straight passed the Mercedes.

The next few laps saw a range of DRS inspired overtakes down the Kemmel straight, with Alonso making his way up to third place. Webber also made a move on Button for fifth, after the McLaren had already been overtaken by Rosberg down the same straight.

Lap eight saw Sergio Perez try to make a move on Romain Grosjean down the Kemmel straight, but the McLaren driver swerved back into the direction of Grosjean at the entrance to the corner. This meant that Grosjean had to off track and was also passed by Felipe Massa. Perez was later punished with a drive-through penalty for his actions.

Alonso fought through the field to finish Second

Back at the front, the leading drivers were beginning to make their first pit-stops of the day. All of this meant that Button took the lead of the Grand Prix, as he was going for a one-stop strategy. Vettel soon caught up to and passed Button though after his pit-stop.

Lap 26 then saw the retirement of Raikkonen, who had been battling with Alonso. Raikkonen went to overtake at the Bus Stop Chicane but was unable to stop his car. The Finn then drove straight into the pits and retired from the race, the first time he has done so since his return to Formula One.

Moments later, Paul Di Resta was forced to retire from the race after a collision with Pastor Maldonado at the Bus Stop. The pair, along with Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez, were all challenging each other for position going into the Chicane. Maldonado then went wide, catching the back of Sutil before driving straight into the side of Di Resta. Maldonado was later punished for the incident, by the Williams driver being given a 10-second stop and go penalty.

At the front, Vettel and Alonso were both comfortable with Hamilton now in a lonely third place. Behind him though, Webber was catching Rosberg up lap-by-lap. Rosberg was able to hold on however in what was a quiet last 10 laps of the race.

Vettel’s victory now means that he has won five races this season and edges ever closer to a fourth straight title.

Belgian Grand Prix Results

1.Vettel
2.Alonso
3.Hamilton
4.Rosberg
5.Webber
6.Button
7.Massa
8.Grosjean
9.Sutil
10. Ricciardo