2011 Belgium Grand Prix - Race

Sebastian Vettel won a fantastic Belgium Grand Prix, defeating Mark Webber & Jenson Button to his first win since the European GP.

Before the race started, several teams complained to the FIA, asking for a change of tyres due. The tyres used in Q3 had blistered, with teams believing that they would have compromised starts. The FIA put their foot down, saying the blistering was down to excess camber used by the teams, leaving the teams with no choice but to keep their poor tyres on their cars.

When the race got underway, there was a collision at the first corner. Bruno Senna got in the way of Jaime Alguersuari, he then clipped the back of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, sending him wide. At the front, Nico Rosberg had got a brilliant start, and was in first going into Les Combes. He lead Vettel, Massa, Hamilton & Alonso, with Webber slipping down the grid to 8th. Alonso soon took Hamilton, and set about catching his teammate. Meanwhile, Webber pitted for new tyres, and Button came in for a new front wing. By lap 5, Sebastian Vettel needed new tyres and pitted. This gave Rosberg the lead, but not for long. Alonso had steamed past Massa, and with DRS and KERS he eased past Nico for the lead. On new tyres, Vettel was the fastest man, but was stuck in traffic. Alonso soon followed suit for new tyres, and on his way out, met Mark Webber, and just about got out of his way going up Eau Rouge. It did not cost the Spaniard as he soon re-took Mark with his DRS.

Lewis Hamilton had come in for tyres as well. On his exit he found himself behind Kamui Kobayashi. He closed the gap with DRS and KERS, and as he came around Les Combes he seemed to have the lead. But as both started to turn for the corner, they collided, with Lewis going off into the barrier, and out of the race. The safety car was deployed while Lewis' McLaren was removed, and Kamui came into the pits for a new front wing. At the very front, Vettel came in for a new set of tyres during the safety car period, and rejoining behind Alonso and Webber. After the shake up of pitstops and retirements, Michael Scumacher had managed to jump to 9th, and Jenson Button had moved up to 11th.

When the safety car left the track, Sebastian Vettel soon got past his team mate Mark Webber, and made Alonso his next target. It wasn't long before the gap had been shortened, and wasn't long until the German was into the lead. It was then Vettel, Alonso, & Webber. The men on the move at that time were Schumacher & Button. It wasn't long before Button was fighting Michael for seventh, and not long after that when Jenson had seventh and set about Sutil. Button, at this point, was carving up the field. He eased past Sutil, then Massa and then Rosberg. Button then set about catching the leading three.

At the front, Vettel had made a comfortable gap to Alonso, of about 7 seconds. Behind the Ferrari driver, Mark Webber was starting to catch him. It was starting to become a three way battle for second. However, tyres were going to have the main say in this battle. All four drivers pitted, and Webber gained time on Alonso. The Australian gained on the Spaniard lap by lap, and soon took Fernando to get his Red Bull into second, creating a 1-2 for the Austrian team. Alonso next worry was Button. Closing the gap was easy, almost as easy as the overtake. With a great tow up Eau Rouge, Button caught Alonso, then pulling out of the slipstream he used DRS and KERS to take the final podium spot. Behind these two, the 2 Mercedes drivers were having a similar battle. Michael was faster than Nico, but could not find a way to get past his fellow countryman. However, in a very similar move to the Button-Alonso manoeuvre, Michael found a way past to take 5th.

In then end, Vettel had a 5 second gap as he took the victory, with Webber taking second and Button third. It is Red Bull's first 1-2 since Turkey, their first win in four races, and gives Vettel an even larger gap at the top of the Driver's World Championship.

Race Result
Pos - Driver - Team - Rank
1 - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1
2 - Mark Webber - Red Bull - 2
3 - Jenson Button - McLaren - 5
4 - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 4
5 - Michael Schumacher - Mercedes - 11
6 - Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - 7
7 - Adrian Sutil - Force India - 10
8 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 6
9 - Vitaly Petrov - Renault - 13
10 - Pastor Maldonado - Williams - 28
11 - Paul Di Resta - Force India - 23
12 - Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber - 15
13 - Bruno Senna - Renault - 32
14 - Jarno Trulli - Lotus - 18
15 - Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus - 17
16 - Rubens Barrichello - Williams - 8
17 - Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin - 31
18 - Timo Glock - Virgin - 20
19 - Vitantonio Liuzzi - HRT - 22
R - Sergio Perez - Sauber - 27
R - Daniel Ricciardo -HRT - 39
R - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - 3
R - Sebastian Buemi - Toro Rosso - 14
R - Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso - 16