Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel dominated the Belgian Grand Prix to claim a fifth victory of the 2018 Formula 1 season after a decisive opening lap overtake on Lewis Hamilton.
Polesitter Hamilton led the field through the La Source hairpin but was out-dragged by second-placed Vettel through Eau Rouge.
The Ferrari driver was able to pull alongside and pass the Mercedes driver for the lead on the run to the Les Combes chicane.
Mercedes pitted Hamilton one lap prior to Vettel in order to gain time with an undercut and while the championship leader was able to gain on his chief rival, Vettel maintained the race lead after the stops.
Hamilton finished in second and his advantage over Vettel in the championship has been reduced to 17 points.
Prior to Vettel’s race-defining pass on Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg triggered drama further back in the pack at La Source. Locking up both front-wheels, he careered into the back of Fernando Alonso and sent the McLaren crashing over the top of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber.
All three retired after the incident, with the paint on the halo of Leclerc’s Sauber stripped after it had been hit by the floor of the McLaren.
Also affected in the incident was Daniel Ricciardo. His rear wing was heavily damaged after being tagged by Alonso. Ricciardo then hit the back of Kimi Raikkonen, causing a right-rear puncture on the Ferrari.
Both Ricciardo and Raikkonen did return to the race but later retired as a result of the respective damage.
With his team-mate eliminated from contention, Max Verstappen drove a quiet race to third place after having passed the Racing Point Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in the opening stages.
The Force India pairing, who had locked out the second row of the grid in qualifying before finishing the race in fifth and sixth, were passed in the closing stages by a resurgent Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas had started the race in 17th having taken a new power unit prior to practice on Friday.
He pitted for fresh soft tyres with 14 laps remaining of the 44-tour event. Emerging in sixth place, he first demoted Ocon before catching Perez and clearing the second Force India with five laps remaining to finish in fourth place.
Behind the Force Indias, the Haas pairing of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen ended up seventh and eighth.
Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly finished in ninth. He battled with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson early on. When Ericsson emerged from his pitstop, he was held up in a three-lap scrap with Gasly’s team-mate Brendon Hartley.
The duel allowed Gasly to pull seven seconds clear and consigned Ericsson to the final points paying position in 10th.
