FERRARI’s Sebastian Vettel beat title rival Lewis Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix to cut his lead to 17 points.
Vettel passed Hamilton on the first lap just in time before a safety car was deployed following a multi-car crash at the first corner, and dominated thereafter.
Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Charles Leclerc were uninjured after the German rammed Alonso’s McLaren and launched it over Leclerc’s Sauber.
Hulkenberg received a 10-place grid penalty at the next race for the incident.
Alonso related it to the first-lap crash at this race in 2012, in which Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was given a race ban for causing a similar incident, which also took out the Spaniard.
“Again a very big-time missing braking point,” Alonso said. “That time Romain had a race ban.
“It is tough to understand how you can miss (the braking) so much. It is not a couple of metres. You arrive at a speed that it is impossible to negotiate the corner. So, sad for that but happy that we are all fine.”
The big difference between the 2012 and 2018 crashes was that Grosjean was a repeat offender in terms of first-lap crashes that year, while Hulkenberg is one of the sport’s most consistent performers.
The crash also may have been the first time a grand prix driver was saved from injury by the new halo head-protection device, introduced this year. Television replays showed Alonso’s car bounced off the halo on Leclerc’s car and Alonso said: “I flew over his car and the halo was a good thing to have today. I think for him it helped, looking at the replay. We don’t need to prove it is a good thing to have.”
That was not the only incident at the first corner. Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull hit Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, forcing both into eventual retirement despite initially rejoining.
Vettel’s controlled response
Once into the lead, it was clear Vettel had a small but decisive pace advantage over Hamilton and he edged clear, building a 3.9-second lead by lap 14, before the Mercedes began to close in slightly as the pit stops approached.
Hamilton got his deficit down to 3.2secs on lap 20 and pitted on the next lap, but Vettel followed him in the next time around and was able to rejoin in front.
Hamilton was not far behind but not close enough and his hopes were also marginally affected by catching Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which was running second, just as he wanted to be attacking Vettel.
Hamilton passed Verstappen with ease up the Kemmel straight and was in any case too far back to have made an attempt on Vettel’s lead.
He ended the critical lap 1.5secs behind, after which the race settled into a familiar pattern, with Vettel building a comfortable lead of about five seconds or so and holding it there, and Verstappen equally safe in third nearly 30 seconds behind.(BBC Sport)
