Vettel in stunning victory to cut Hamilton title lead
THE writing was on the wall for Lewis Hamilton from the moment that Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari overtook his Mercedes on the opening lap of the Belgian GP, as if the Silver Arrow was still in its quiver.
They left behind them carnage in the first corner after Nico Hulkenberg made a complete mess of braking for La Source and augered into the back of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren.
That in turn was sent the Spaniard aviating over Charles Leclerc’s Sauber in an eerie replay of the mayhem triggered by Romain Grosjean here six years ago. Nobody was harmed but the halo on the Monegasque’s car bore clear signs of impact where it had done its job of protecting his head.
“Hulkenberg came at 300 kmh and hit us,” Alonso said, “then we played bowling with the rest of the grid. It’s difficult to understand how you can miss the braking point so much.”
Not even the intervention of the safety car for the first four laps, as the debris was cleared up, could prevent Vettel from controlling the race thereafter and winning as he pleased, to close down Hamilton’s world championship points lead to 17 points.
The Briton’s expression afterwards was that of a man who knows he can expect the same when the circus heads to Ferrari’s home ground at the superfast Monza next weekend, when Vettel’s wingman Kimi Raikkonen will be hoping for better fortune after suffering damage when Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was caught by the flying Alonso and pushed into contact with him in the first corner melee.
Vettel was reflective when he was informed that he had just overtaken Alain Prost’s 51 wins, and clearly delighted to be back on top form after the disappointments that befell Ferrari before the summer break.
“I made a great start and knew that I would have my chance going up the hill,” he said. “I timed it well and we were better there this year because we had a bit less wing. The timing Front man: winner Sebastian Vettel (inset) leads Lewis Hamilton at Spa was crucial and I managed it perfectly, but then a Force India came as well…”
For a moment at the end of the main straight on that opening lap it looked like third fastest qualified Esteban Ocon might pull off a sensational overtaking move as he ducked from fourth going up the hill and pulled halfway alongside Vettel, on the inside line, as they headed into the braking area for the Les Combes corner.
But the young Frenchman decided that discretion was the better part of valour and resisted the temptation to tough things out.
“Once I was ahead,” Vettel continued “I was quite relieved that I had got that done, and How they finished (44 Laps): 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 23mins 34.476secs, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:23:45.537, 3 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:24:05.848, 4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:24:38.081, 5 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:24:45.499, 6 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:24:53.996, 7 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:25:00.429, 8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:25:02.115, 9 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25:20.338, 10 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 11 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault at 1 Lap, 12 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams at 1 Lap, 13 Lance Stroll
then we had the safety car! But I got a very good exit from the last corner on the restart and managed the tailwind while braking for the first corner. Lewis (Can) Williams at 1 Lap, 14 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 15 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren at 1 Lap
World Championship Standings: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 231pts, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 214, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 146, 4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 144, 5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 120, 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 118, 7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 52, 8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 49, 9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 44, 10 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 40.
Next race: Italian GP, Monza, Sept 2
was pushing very hard, but by the second stint I could turn everything down and control the race.
“I think also I was fortunate that most of the traffic I encountered was on the straight where I could pass easily, so I didn’t lose much time.
“But he was not pushing very much over the last 15 laps. I really enjoyed the race. It’s always fun to drive this track, and in a great car it’s even better.”
Hamilton was philosophical afterwards, having eased off in the final stages to take as little out of his power unit for the races that lie ahead.
“Congratulations to Seb,” he said. “I did everything I could in the race and think we did quite well here this weekend, but he just drove past me like I wasn’t there on the straight.
“We just have to work harder to match them.” COLIN Turkington has taken a giant stride towards a third British Touring Car Championship.
Three podium finishes at the Scottish Knockhill circuit yesterday sees him head into the final six races of the season with a 43 point lead.
But while Turkington drove superbly on a day of atrocious conditions it was in the stewards’ room where he was the biggest winner.
Having qualified his West Surrey Racing BMW fourth fastest despite carrying maximum ‘success’ ballast, he climbed to second behind the Subaru of reigning champion Ash Sutton, then dropped to third before regaining second again in a move which saw him nudge the back of Stephen Jelly’s BMW.
He had an anxious wait before officials decided it was a racing incident and confirmed his second place.
But it was race two which turned the championship on its hedge. Sutton won again with Turkington’s closest rival Tom Ingram in second and the Portadown driver down in fifth.
However, Sutton’s Subaru failed a ride-height check at post-race scrutineering and he was disqualified. Ingram was promoted to first – only to suffer the same fate as Sutton when his Toyota was deemed to be too low.
Victory was handed to Turkington’s team-mate BMW teammate Andrew Jordan with Colin moved up to third behind Josh Cook’s MG.
With Sutton and Ingram relegated to the back of the grid for race three, Turkington took advantage to strengthen his grip on the championship lead with a strong second place behind the winning Ford of Tom Chilton.
He now leads Ingram by 43 points and is 51 ahead of Sutton going into the final six races at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.
There was no repeat of his Rockingham success for Chris Smiley who, despite qualifying his Norlin Honda fifth, struggled in the rain, finishing fifth, 11th and 11th.