Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 in Belgium

SPA-FRANCHORCHAMPS, Belgium- Becoming only the fourth driver ever to win from pole position, Sebastian Vettel passed Fernando Alonso on lap 18 in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa Franchorchamps to lead a Red Bull 1-2 with Mark Webber in second and McLaren’s Jenson Button in third. The win by the German extends his lead to 92 points over his Australian teammate in the cahmpionship.  

“We had a lot of concerns going into the race and we had reasons to be confident. Stated Vettel. “Both of us stopped very early. The target was to see how the car would go early in the race. Was able to get back into the race and it made it more comfortable.”

Vettel normally leads right from the start, but on this classic circuit with better weather on race day, the drier track gave Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg the opportunity to go from the third row right into the lead when the German passed Vettel on the Kemmel straight on the very first lap. But in the back of the grid, Bruno Senna, who had not raced for a year, braked late and struck Jaime Algusuari’s Toro Rosso car, knocking it right out of the race. Senna though was given a drive though penalty that never saw him retain any place higher than 13th position.

The race itself continued with no serious incidents until lap 11 when Lewis Hamilton was struck going out of Kemmel straight by Sauber’s Kamui Kobyaschi, putting the Englishman heavily into the wall. This put the safety car out for the only time in the race for six laps. Despite the hard strike into the wall, Hamilton escaped injury, but the non-finish dropped Hamilton in the world championship standings.

Alonso could not keep his position at the end of the race, following his loss of position to Vettel. Following the surrender of his lead, the Spaniard also could not keep the next two positions, losing out to Webber with seven laps to go and to Button two laps from the end, resulting in a disappointing fourth by the race end.

“The start was shocking and it was disappointing”. Said Webber. “The tires were damaged during qualifying we had a completely blocked radio and it was a bit of confusion. It was not an easy grand prix, watching the two of us but we got a good result.”

“It was mayhem and on the first lap I got hit”. Replied Button afterwards.  “I was struggling for grip.  I got the right tires and it was good to finish this year.”

Michael Schumacher, who started the race from last place, managed to find his place on the grid to finish in fifth, just ahead of Rosberg. Adrian Sutil finished in seventh, while Felipe Massa took eighth. Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado took the last two point positions.

Vettel, like the other drivers, liked the circuit and its competitiveness.

“We could have stopped, but we lost the lap anyway.” He said. “It was good to finish and it had plenty of overtaking and the race was good.”

Vettel and the others will get more excitement in two weeks’ time as the F1 teams travel the fastest circuit on the calendar in Monza, Italy.