2013 Belgian F1 GP report: Vettel strengthens grip on title

Start of 2013 Belgian F1 GP

Sebastian Vettel eased to victory in a dry Belgian grands prix to extend his championship lead to 46 points, as Formula One made its return after the summer break.

Vettel, who qualified second after a wet qualifying, disposed of Lewis Hamilton after three corners to take the lead and didn’t look troubled all afternoon to claim his 31^st career win. Fernando Alonso showed yet again that if Ferrari had more pace in qualifying then he would pose more of a challenge to Vettel at the front, after a superb drive saw him claw his way from 9^th on the grid to finish 2^nd.

Hamilton couldn’t live with the pace of the front two as Mercedes suffered a tyre relapse which saw he and Nico Rosberg focus more on tyre management. They were able to hold off the second Red Bull of Mark Webber to finish 3^rd and 4^th, but Hamilton has now fallen almost 60 points behind Vettel in the 2013 F1 championship driver standings.

Alonso fighting with Button

The rain that was promised never came and it was much of a procession after the early chaos settled down. Alonso was the biggest mover as he climbed from 9^th to 5^th at the start and then muscled his way past Jenson Button and Rosberg before the first round of stops. It looked like Alonso would challenge Vettel for victory, but even after he cleared Hamilton for 2nd, Alonso was still losing time to the German.

It was a terrible weekend for the other title contender, Kimi Raikkonen, who was forced to retire after a brake failure. Black smoke was seen coming from the Finn’s car every time he applied the brakes, a clear sign of them overheating.

Alonso fighting with Button

Lotus tried to control the situation but a brake failure while attacking Felipe Massa saw him retire for the first time in 39 races.

Jenson Button underlined McLaren’s improved race pace with a strong 6^th placed finish and was disappointed that he didn’t manage to finish on the podium. Romain Grosjean battled to hold off Felipe Massa for 7^th, while the final two points positions went to Adrian Sutil and Daniel Ricciardo.

Sebastian Vettel walk to podium

In a relatively low key Belgian grands prix there was one incident that almost resulted in a safety car. Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado collided in the final chicane after the Venezuelan was sent careering into the Force India by di Resta’s team mate Sutil who clipped the Williams while entering the corner. They have been locked in a fierce four way battle with Esteban Gutierrez for tenth.

2013 Belgian F1 GP podium: 1. Vettel 2. Alonso 3. Hamilton

After Hamilton’s win in Hungary F1 was given fresh optimism of a close title battle but Vettel has nullified those thoughts with a dominant win here. After the Italian grands prix in two weeks Red Bull will feel confident on the Asian circuits that they have done so well on before, and come the end of the season we could be looking back to Spa as the key race in another Vettel championship success as it was the day where he reasserted his authority and dominance over the rest. Who do you think will wins next race at Monza? Are you sure enough to place some bets on the outcome of next Italian Grand Prix? You can place your bets at William Hill formula 1 betting.

Fastest times of the day by compound:

Longest stint of the race:

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