Vettel stretches lead with Belgian victory

Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel ran away with the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday to stretch his overall lead to 46 points with eight races remaining.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, now his closest rival, finished second – a hefty 16.8 seconds behind – after starting ninth. Red Bull’s Vettel has 197 points after the German’s fifth win of the season, Alonso is on 151.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, who started on pole position for the fourth race in a row, took a distant 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.

Result from the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix

1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull – Renault 1:23:42.196
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari +00:16.869
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 00:27.734
4. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 00:29.872
5. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull – Renault 00:33.045
6. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:40.794
7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:53.922
8. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus – Renault 00:55.846
9. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India – Mercedes 01:09.567
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 01:13.470

Driver and constructor standings

1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 197
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

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

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