Belgian Grand Prix 2013 Results: Reaction, Leaders and Post Race Analysis

Sebastian Vettel won an intriguing Belgian Grand Prix, taking the lead early and making it stick.

The rain held off, making for a dry race, and Fernando Alonso took full advantage of an improved car to slice through the field and take second place.

Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton took third.

Here's how the results affect the championship race, the reaction from the drivers, and the winners and losers from Spa-Francorchamps.

Race Report and Key Incidents

Sebastian Vettel won his fifth race of the season to underline his and Red Bull's dominance.

The German made an early pass on polesitter Lewis Hamilton and never looked back, ending up with a 16-second cushion over eventual runner-up Fernando Alonso.

Alonso had driven superbly and combatively to gain seven places from his qualifying spot, while Hamilton found that his car simply could not compete with either the Red Bull or the Ferrari. 

"

#F1 This is the fourth successive season Vettel wins five GPs, equalling Ayrton Senna (1988-91) and Michael Schumacher (2000-04).

— Infostrada Sports (@InfostradaLive) August 25, 2013"

It meant that Vettel's championship lead stretched out to 47 points after Kimi Raikkonen suffered his first retirement since his return to the sport last year, courtesy of a brakes failure.

Key moments from the race

Lap 1 - Alonso begins to clamber his way forward, up from P9 on the grid to P5 in double-quick time.

Lap 1 - Vettel jumps ahead of Hamilton for the race lead before Les Combes and starts to dictate terms.

Lap 6 - Alonso with the benefit of DRS moves into third place, skipping past Button and Rosberg.

Lap 12 - Perez receives a drive-through penalty after forcing Grosjean off the track.

Lap 15 - Thrilling move from Alonso after Hamilton goes wide at La Source to move back up to third.

Lap 18 - Raikkonen with a contender for pass of the day, skipping around Perez on the outside at Turn 9.

Lap 25 - Raikkonen passes Massa, brakes appear to fail on him and he goes straight into the pits. His first retirement since his return to F1 last year.

Lap 26 - Di Resta forced out of race, an innocent victim of a controversial battle between Sutil and Maldonado.

Lap 37 - Drive-through penalty for Maldonado over the Sutil/Di Resta incident.

Lap 44 - Vettel takes the chequered flag in Belgium.

Full results (via Formula1.com)

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts 1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 Winner 2 25 2 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 44 +16.8 secs 9 18 3 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 44 +27.7 secs 1 15 4 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 44 +29.8 secs 4 12 5 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +33.8 secs 3 10 6 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 +40.7 secs 6 8 7 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 44 +53.9 secs 10 6 8 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 44 +55.8 secs 7 4 9 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 44 +69.5 secs 12 2 10 19 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 44 +73.4 secs 19 1 11 6 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 44 +81.9 secs 13   12 18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 44 +86.7 secs 18   13 11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 44 +88.2 secs 11   14 12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 44 + secs 21   15 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 44 + secs 20   16 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 43 +1 Lap 14   17 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 43 +1 Lap 17   18 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 43 +1 Lap 15   19 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 42 +2 Laps 16   Ret 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 26 +18 Laps 5   Ret 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 25 +19 Laps 8   Ret 20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 8 +36 Laps 22

Updated Driver Standings

Here are the latest standings, per the official Formula 1 website:

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	Red Bull Racing-Renault	197
2	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	151
3	Lewis Hamilton	British	Mercedes	139
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	134
5	Mark Webber	Australian	Red Bull Racing-Renault	115
6	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	96
7	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	67
8	Romain Grosjean	French	Lotus-Renault	53
9	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	47
10	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	36
11	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	25
12	Sergio Perez	Mexican	McLaren-Mercedes	18
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	French	STR-Ferrari	13
14	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	STR-Ferrari	12
15	Nico Hulkenberg	German	Sauber-Ferrari	7
16	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Renault	1
17	Valtteri Bottas	Finnish	Williams-Renault	0
18	Esteban Gutierrez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Jules Bianchi	French	Marussia-Cosworth	0
20	Charles Pic	French	Caterham-Renault	0
21	Giedo van der Garde	Dutch	Caterham-Renault	0
22	Max Chilton	British	Marussia-Cosworth	0

Updated Constructor Standings

Here are the latest constructors' championship standings after the race (via official Formula 1 website): 

Pos	Team	Points
1	Red Bull Racing-Renault	312
2	Mercedes	235
3	Ferrari	218
4	Lotus-Renault	187
5	McLaren-Mercedes	65
6	Force India-Mercedes	61
7	STR-Ferrari	25
8	Sauber-Ferrari	7
9	Williams-Renault	1
10	Marussia-Cosworth	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0

Winners

Fernando Alonso

A return to form for Alonso and Ferrari after a disappointing run to the mid-season interval. Alonso expected to do better in a dry qualifying, but recovered in a way that suggests he'll be a win contender in most Grands Prix for the rest of the season.

Sebastian Vettel

Business as usual for the German. He dealt with the one man ahead of him on the track early, built up a lead and never gave it away. Untroubled from the front, it was the archetypal Vettel drive, and gave him a significant buffer in the title race as he marches towards a fourth title.

McLaren

Their strongest showing at a race weekend in some time. Jenson Button ran in third place for a long portion of the race, and though he couldn't pull off a one-stop strategy, he finished sixth, and the fastest man on the track.

Losers

Kimi Raikkonen

Only once since his return in 2012 has he not scored points, and not since 2009 had he failed to finish a race. But a brake failure put paid to his race, and his 27-race streak was broken, allowing Seb Vettel to pull away in style at the top of the championship.

Lewis Hamilton

Thought he'd put his tyre issues behind him, but Hamilton slid down from pole position and didn't look capable of competing with the front runners. Not a disastrous finishing position, but one which makes talk of re-emerging as a title contender look a little premature.

Post-Race Reaction

Sebastian Vettel was delighted with the result, but was given a mixed reception when he claimed victory in the Belgian Grand Prix from the Spa crowd:

"

More boos for Vettel on the podium. Becoming a regular occurrence now

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) August 25, 2013"

There was some speculation that the boos were in relation to a Greenpeace protest which had been attempted during the race.

"

Maybe the boos were for the Greenpeace protestors. That's another possibility

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) August 25, 2013"

"

More boos for Vettel and a cheer for Hamilton, not nice to hear even from a non-Vettel fan. It's not his fault he's brilliant. #F1

— Grass Roots (@GrassRootsBlogg) August 25, 2013"

Fernando Alonso seemed buoyed by the result and was already looking forward to the next race, set to take place at Ferrari's 'home' track in two weeks:

"

Alonso: "In Monza, we would like to give some smiles and some satisfaction to the Tifosi." #F1onNBC

— F1® Racing on NBC (@F1onNBCSports) August 25, 2013"

"

#BelgianGP Domenicali: "Very happy with Fernando,great race! We need to improve our race pace, mainly on Hard tyres. Championship still open

— Scuderia Ferrari (@InsideFerrari) August 25, 2013"