Lewis Hamilton Wins Belgian F1 Grand Prix 2017 Ahead of Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel to win the 2017 Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Spa on Sunday. It means Hamilton ended his 200th GP as a winner, while Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo came in third.

Hamilton made the most of starting the day on pole to win what proved a close-fought race against the leader in the Championship standings. Vettel had entered this race with a 14-point lead, but Hamilton has shown his title chances are still very much alive.

Here are the race times, per the Formula 1 official Twitter account:

The race began with a predictable pecking order established between championship rivals Vettel and Hamilton. Yet it was the latter who held pole, despite Vettel's strong start.

Vettel couldn't seize pole, but he was forcing Hamilton into some fairly cautious driving early on, according to David Coulthard, per Channel 4 F1:

Vettel's wasn't the only strong start, though, with Fernando Alonso also making up ground quickly. The McLaren-Honda driver had moved three places from 10th after a stunning early lap.

However, problems soon followed for Alonso, who was left bemoaning the inadequacies of his engine when he slipped back to 10th:

Hamilton still held sway ahead of the 15th lap, despite a pit stop. Vettel was keeping close on the case, but the German needed to make some adjustments.

Those adjustments included the Ferrari driver switching tyres, per Sky Sports F1:

While Vettel was occupied, his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was incurring a penalty after failing to slow down for double yellow flags. The infraction would cost the Finn 10 precious seconds.

By 20 laps in, Hamilton was still pacing Vettel, with fellow Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas in third, with little to separate the leaders:

Yet more engine trouble brought Alonso's miserable day to an end, while the safety car had to come to the aid of Force India's Sergio Perez. A punctured back tyre had slowed the Mexican considerably after a second collision with team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Soon it was Hamilton's turn to be unhappy about an appearance from the safety car:

Once the race resumed, Hamilton had switched to softs, while Vettel was on ultrasofts for the final push. The latter's switch appeared to work as he increased the pressure on Hamilton, moving wheel-to-wheel with the leader inside the final 10 laps.

Hamilton just about managed to stay ahead, though, per BBCF1:

There was a big move in third, where Ricciardo overtook Bottas.

The gap among those on the front was dwindling all the time:

Hamilton's edge was just one second with four laps remaining, as he sought to reduce Vettel's lead in the championship standings. The Mercedes man did just that by taking the corners well as Vettel's challenge faded.

It means the gap is now halved in the championship standings.