Sebastian Vettel overtook Lewis Hamilton just after the start before cruising to victory in a dry Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.
The Red Bull driver started second on the grid and was beaten to the first corner by Hamilton, but Vettel used his KERS system to blast past his rival’s Mercedes going into the Les Combes chicane, just the fifth corner of the race.
Vettel never looked back, and there were no major on-track incidents or rain – despite grey skies and a gloomy forecast – to derail his procession to a fifth win of the season. The result stretches his championship lead to 46 points.
Fernando Alonso had qualified appallingly in ninth, but a superb start and great driving thereafter saw him climb to second place on the podium, while pole sitter Hamilton was a distant third in a race that turned into a tedious procession.
Kimi Raikkonen suffered front brake failure, failing to finish a grand prix for the first time in 38 races, which means Alonso leapfrogs him to second place in the title race.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h23m42.196s 2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +16.869s 3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +27.734s 4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +29.872s 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +33.845s 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +40.794s 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari +53.922s 8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +55.846s 9. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1m09.547s 10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m13.470s 11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1m21.936s 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m26.740s 13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +1m28.258s 14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1m40.436s 15. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +1m47.456s 16. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1 lap 17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap 18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap 19. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps