Vettel stretches lead

Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel stamped his authority on a processional Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday to chalk up his fifth win in 11 races and stretch his overall lead to 46 points, writes Alan Baldwin.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, now his closest rival, finished second – a distant 16.8 seconds behind the Red Bull driver – after starting ninth.

Vettel seized the lead from Mercedes’ pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the Kemmel straight after Eau Rouge and never looked back while threatened rain held off. The German now has 197 points to Alonso’s 151.

“It was a fantastic race for us from start to finish really,” he said after his 31st career win.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, winner of the previous race in Hungary and on pole for the fourth race in a row, took third place for Mercedes ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg and moved up to third overall on 139.

Kimi Raikkonen’s run of 27 successive races in the points came to an end with the first retirement since his comeback last year.

The Finn had started the day second in the championship but fell to fourth overall with 134 points after pulling into the pits and stopping with what looked like a brake problem.

The race, on one of the fastest and most challenging circuits on the calendar, was no thriller and the outcome proved a disappointment for those fans who had hoped to see Vettel slowed on his march to a fourth successive title.

“Today it was a little bit boring, we get second place but no threat to Sebastian Vettel and had no threat from behind,” said Alonso, whose team’s home Italian Grand Prix is next up.

“It is an important weekend for us and the team and we arrived fully motivated and in Monza we would like to give some smiles to our fans.”

There were boos from the crowd mixed with the cheers as drivers stood on the podium after the race, although reports suggested that may have been directed at protesters trying to interrupt.

Greenpeace activists demonstrating against race sponsor Shell had unfurled a banner from the roof of the main grandstand, opposite the VIP area, before the race as teams readied their cars.

They then remained hanging from ropes, watching the action. “We are a bit confused here because the crowd are booing and cheering and I’m not sure why,” Vettel told the crowd after spraying the champagne.

The start was uneventful after last year’s mayhem, when Lotus’ Romain Grosjean took out Alonso and Hamilton at the first corner in an accident that brought the Frenchman a one race ban.

Hopes that Hamilton could hold off Vettel were short-lived. “He (Vettel) had the momentum and was able to go around Lewis and that was the decisive moment,” said Red Bull principal Christian Horner.

“There’s still a long way to go but it was a dominant performance from Seb, perfect display by the team with pit stops and strategy.”

Australian Mark Webber was fifth for Red Bull after a poor start in his last Belgian Grand Prix with McLaren’s Jenson Button, last year’s winner, sixth after leading early on when those ahead pitted and he stayed out.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was seventh, Grosjean eighth and Force India’s Adrian Sutil ninth despite being caught in a clash with the Williams of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado that took out his team mate Paul di Resta.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo, front-runner to replace Webber at Red Bull next season, climbed through the field from 19th at the start to take the final point and further burnish his credentials.

DRIVER AND CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS
Drivers: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 197 points, 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 151, 3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 139, 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 134, 5. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 115, 6.  Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 96, 7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 67, 8. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 53, 9. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 47, 10. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 36, 11. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 25, 12. Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren 18, 13. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 13, 14. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 12, 15. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Sauber 7, 16. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1, 17. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 0, 18. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber 0, 19. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia 0, 20. Charles Pic (France) Caterham 0, 21. Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham 0, 22. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia 0.
Constructors: 1. RedBull - Renault 312, 2. Mercedes 235, 3. Ferrari 218, 4. Lotus - Renault 187, 5. McLaren 65, 6. Force India - Mercedes 61, 7. Toro Rosso - Ferrari 25, 8. Sauber - Ferrari 7, 9. Williams - Renault 1, 10. Marussia - Cosworth 0, 11. Caterham - Renault 0.

Team by team analysis (listed in championship order)
RED BULL (Sebastian Vettel 1, Mark Webber 5)
Vettel chalked up his fifth win of the season, and 31st of his career, to surge 46 points clear with eight races remaining. He also set the fastest lap in a dominant display after taking the lead on lap one. He is now level with Nigel Mansell on overall wins. Webber suffered clutch problems at the start.

MERCEDES (Lewis Hamilton 3, Nico Rosberg 4)
Mercedes consolidated second place. Hamilton could do nothing against Vettel after starting from pole for the fourth race in a row but was happy with his fifth podium of the year that sent him third overall. Both drivers did two stops. Rosberg had started fourth.

FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 2, Felipe Massa 7)
Alonso went from ninth at the start to second and moved back to second overall. He felt he had got the most out of the car. Massa lost places at the start as he avoided colliding with Grosjean and had a KERS problem.

LOTUS (Romain Grosjean 8, Kimi Raikkonen retired)
Grosjean also lost places at the start and did just one stop. Raikkonen’s run of 27 races in the points ended with a brake failure.

MCLAREN (Jenson Button 6, Sergio Perez 11)
McLaren leapfrogged Force India in the standings. Button was fourth after the first corner and led briefly when the leading drivers pitted and that was as good as it got. He started planning to do one stop but switched to two later on. Perez was handed a drive-through penalty for forcing Grosjean off.

FORCE INDIA (Adrian Sutil 9, Paul Di Resta retired)
Di Resta was sent into retirement by a collision with Pastor Maldonado, which he blamed on the Venezuelan, on lap 27. Sutil made some good overtaking moves.

TORO ROSSO (Daniel Ricciardo 10, Jean-Eric Vergne 12)
Ricciardo went from 19th to the points after a long first run on the hard tyres. Vergne had a slow puncture in his final stint and lost out to Ricciardo who had fresh tyres.

SAUBER (Nico Hulkenberg 13, Esteban Gutierrez 14)
Still no points for Gutierrez, who started 21st and had a drive-through penalty. Hulkenberg complained about the balance of the car.

WILLIAMS (Valtteri Bottas 15, Pastor Maldonado 17)
Maldonado collided with Di Resta and was given a stop-and-go penalty. Both drivers were compromised by their low starting positions.

MARUSSIA (Jules Bianchi 18, Max Chilton 19)
Both cars made it through the first phase of qualifying on Saturday thanks to the weather but any advantage quickly disappeared in the race. Chilton had a drive-through penalty for a blue flag infringement.
CATERHAM (Giedo van der Garde 16, Charles Pic retired)
Pic retired with an oil leak. Van der Garde started 14th after the weather-hit qualifying but could not make the position stick beyond lap two.