The Belgium GP isn’t one to be associated with processional racing. However, when the leader of the race is the young, three time world champion – it doesn’t have much of say.
Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position on Saturday from the grasp of Sebastian Vettel but that was as close to beating the German as Hamilton was going to get this weekend. As the weather held firm over the Spa circuit, Vettel pounced on Hamilton immediately and took the lead of the 
race as the field headed into Les Combes at the top of the hill. Fernando Alonso upheld his illustrious reputation at the start of grand prix as he transformed ninth on the grid to fifth by the end of lap one.
The day was to belong to the championship leader and there was no looking back for the defending champion as he expertly controlled the race from the front. Driving within himself and nursing his first stint tyres Vettel opened a gap of seven seconds over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Further down the field the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen had made little progress from their starting positions. Nevertheless, Raikkonen was able to overtake several drivers to get himself solidly into the point. However, smoking brakes on the starting grid was an indication that the Finn could run into trouble later in the race. Several radio messages later Raikkonen pulled the Lotus into the pits and retired from the Belgium GP bringing to an end a 28 race point scoring streak.
Despite being felled by the brake issue Raikkonen was having substantial difficulty in passing cars on the Radillon straight – even with DRS. It’s not a new problem for the Lotus team as they experienced the same issue in last year’s Belgium and Indian grand prix. It was during last year’s Spa race that Raikkonen was instructed to overtake then Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher to which the Iceman responded with one of his ever-popular monotone quips – ” then give me more power.” It seems top end speed is still haunting the Lotus team; and this ahead of the power hungry Monza.
There was very little excitement throughout the rest of race as Vettel seemingly cruised at the front. Fernando Alonso made short work of Hamilton and took over second place but that is where his progress would cease. Although the Ferrari team managed to put together a much better performance this weekend Alonso will still be asking for more from his Italian team. The Spaniard may have finished second in the race and taken over second place in the standings but in truth he was nowhere near to matching the Red Bull’s pace. The number one Red Bull was comfortably in the lead of the race but Vettel was nevertheless instructed to progressively open the gap to Alonso should there be a threat of rain. The rain never arrived by Vettel was able to extend his lead by a second per lap and never looked on the edge while doing so.
The race for the top three positions between Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton seemed settled but a handful of peculiar incidents caused several drivers to be slapped with penalties. Sergio Perez was the first driver to be hit with a drive-through penalty for ‘crowding’ Lotus’ Grosjean off the track at the entry to Les Combes. The Mexican driver was well past the Frenchman who appeared to outbrake himself and race off the circuit. Perez has been known for hot-headed moves in the past but this time the McLaren driver was in the clear.
An incident involving Pastor Maldonado, Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez and Paul di Resta saw the latter bunted out of the race. Force India’s Sutil cut short an attempted overtaking my Maldonado but would have dire consequences for his teammate. As Maldonado failed to check his mirrors he appeared to dive for the pits triggering contact with Gutierrez who in turn smashed the rear of di Resta’s car to pieces. Maldonado was given a ten second stop/go penalty.
On a quieter, somewhat anonymous note, Nico Rosberg brought his Mercedes home in fourth ahead of Mark Webber and Jenson Button. Felipe Massa, who has been given two races to save his Ferrari seat, finished seventh ahead of Grosjean, Sutil and Daniel Ricciardo. Toro Rosso’s Ricciardo was the biggest gainer of the day by going from nineteenth on the grid to finish tenth and score one championship point.
Straightforward victory in the Belgium GP is the 31st of Sebastian Vettel’s career. It is also enough to give the triple world champion his biggest margin, 46 points, at the top of the standings. Eight races remain and it is now evident that whoever wants to win this driver’s championship need to make a move – yesterday.
