Vettel extends massive lead

Sebastian Vettel extended his already yawning lead in this year’s drivers’ World Championship yesterday when he drove to a well-judged if, at times, fortunate victory in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Defending champion Sebastian Vettel recovered from a poor start and problems with blistering tyres to ride his luck and emerge on top ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in a memorable one-two triumph.

It was the German’s first win in four races and only his second in six as he re-established his supre-macy.

Vettel came home 3.7 seconds clear of Australian Webber, who dropped back after a bad start and then recovered splendidly, with Briton Jenson Button claiming third for McLaren after a topsy-turvy race.

Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher who marked the 20th anniversary of his F1 debut with a dazzling drive into the points from the back of the grid.

Schumacher’s Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg came sixth ahead of another German, Adrian Sutil, of Force India, with Felipe Massa eighth for Ferrari.

Russian Vitaly Petrov followed for Renault and Pastor Maldonado, who started 21st after a grid penalty for crashing into Lewis Hamilton during Saturday’s qualifying, finished 10th for Williams.

Hamilton, of McLaren, crashed out after 13 laps when he was involved in a collision with Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, of Sauber.

Vettel’s win was his seventh of the season and 17th of his career and, if not one of his most impressive, enough to prove that as the season runs towards the final few races he remains the dominant force.

Vettel now has 259 points and leads second placed Webber on 167 and Alonso on 157. Button is fourth with 149 and Hamilton fifth on 146.

Vettel made a good start, but not good enough to stop a surging Rosberg to attack from fifth and, helped by Webber’s getaway problems, unexpectedly take the lead as they rose from Eau Rouge and up the hill to Les Combes.

Behind them, Bruno Senna’s Renault debut saw him run too deeply into La Source and hit Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso, wrecking both of their races.

Each one of them pitted, the Spaniard terminally.

The Brazilian, later given a drive-through penalty, was pushed down the field, having secured a magnificent seventh in qualifying.

Vettel quickly regained the lead as Button had suffered a damaged front wing and fell to 19th after rejoining the fray before producing his near-flawless run to a podium finish.

Alonso took control when Vettel pitted after five laps and stayed there for two laps until he also pitted and Hamilton, his speed restored after a hesitant opening, took control.

On lap 13, Hamilton crashed out when, having passed Kobayashi’s Sauber, he was pitched into the barriers as the Japanese turned across his line.

Hamilton was dazed, but unhurt, and climbed out of his car.

Surprisingly, the stewards decided to take no action.

The crash brought out the safety car and played into Vettel’s hands as he returned to the pits again for new tyres, as the rest filed in behind him.

On resumption, Vettel was in control again.

As the field stretched out, it stayed that way with the Red Bulls demonstrating a superior all-round performance on lap 37 when Webber cruised past Alonso through Eau Rouge and up the hill.

That left Vettel on top in a Red Bull one-two but did not end the intrigue as Button took Alonso on lap 42 for third and Schumacher passed Rosberg for fifth.

Belgian Grand Prix results

1. Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:26.44.893
2. Webber (Red Bull)at 3.741sec
3. Button (McLaren) - 9.669
4. Alonso (Ferrari) - 13.022
5. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 47.464
6. Rosberg (Mercedes) - 48.674
7. Sutil (Force India) - 59.713
8. Massa (Ferrari) - 1:06.076
9. Petrov (Lotus-Renault) - 1:11.917
10. Maldonado (Williams) - 1:17.615
11. Di Resta (Force India) - 1:23.994
12. Kobayashi (Sauber) - 1:31.976
13. Senna (Lotus-Renault) - 1:32.985
14. Trulli (Lotus) - 1 lap
15. Kovalainen (Lotus) - 1 lap
16. Barrichello (Williams) - 1 lap
17. D’Ambrosio (Virgin) - 1 lap
18. Glock (Virgin) - 1 lap
19. Liuzzi (Hispania) - 1 lap

Fastest lap: Webber 1:49.883, lap 33.
Next race: Monza GP, September 11.

Drivers
1. Vettel 259 points, 2. Webber 167, 3. Alonso 157, 4. Button 149, 5. Hamilton 146, 6. Massa 74, 7. Rosberg 56, 8. Schumacher 42, 9. Petrov 34, 10. Heidfeld 34, 11. Kobayashi 27, 12. Sutil 24, 13. Buemi 12, 14. Alguersuari 10, 15. Perez 8, 16. Di Resta 8, 17. Barrichello 4, 18. Maldonado 1.

Constructors
1. Red Bull 426 points, 2. McLaren 295, 3. Ferrari 231, 4. Mercedes GP 98, 5. Lotus-Renault 68, 6. Sauber 35, 7. Force India 32, 8. Toro Rosso 22, 9. Williams F1 5.