Jenson Button led from start to finish in the Belgian Grand Prix and missed all of the action behind him. With most of his rivals further down the track, Button knew he had a clean getaway and used to his full advantage while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were out after just the first corner. Sebastian Vettel managed to climb through the field to take second with Kimi Raikkonen third and Mark Webber came sixth. There was a couple of great results as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg finished fourth with Felipe Massa claiming fifth.
After the formation lap, there was perhaps an omen of what was to come when Kamui Kobayashi's brakes were overheating and causing a lot of smoke. When the red lights went out and the cars made it to the first corner, Romain Grosjean failed to give Hamilton enough room and the cars touched. This caused debris to fly from the wheels before Grosjean ended up going over the top of Alonso, causing mass damage to the Ferrari before the wreck gathered up Sergio Perez and Kobayashi. Kobayashi was the only one able to continue despite being last but, more importantly, no-one was injured.
Unsurprisingly, the Safety Car had to be deployed. Following this drama, the Toro Rossos had managed to get themselves into sixth and seventh whilst the Force India's were sitting in third and fourth. Michael Schumacher had also moved up to fifth with teammate Nico Rosberg in 13th after starting 23rd.
The Safety Car came in on lap four and within a lap, Pastor Maldonado had to retire after losing his front wing, presumably from a collision. Lap eight was the beginning of Vettel's attack after he overtook Massa to claim tenth place. That was followed by Webber on lap nine, pushing Vettel to ninth. Daniel Ricciardo also overtook Paul Di Resta to claim fifth on lap nine.
Michael Schumacher's 300th GP looked to be a possible podium finish when he overtook Raikkonen on lap-11 to go third. But his one-stop strategy ultimately scuppered him as his tyres hit the cliff and the German eventually finished seventh.
Vettel continued his climb by overtaking Bruno Senna and Jean-Eric Vergne on laps 14 and 15. Even the pit lane wasn't immune to any drama, Heikki Kovalainen collided with Narain Karthikeyan after the Caterham was released in an unsafe manner. There was no real damage and the cars were able to continue.
Lap-17 saw Ricciardo and Webber overtake Rosberg, who looked sluggish all race, to claim seventh and eighth before Webber overtook his fellow countryman to trade places. It was deja vu on lap-24 when Vettel re-overtook Massa to claim fifth and continue his climb.
The final retirement of the race came on lap-31 when Karthikeyan lost control of his HRT and went spinning into the tyre wall. It was in the same lap that Raikkonen managed to overtake Schumacher into third before the German repaid the compliment. But, three laps later, Raikkonen was able to complete and make his move stick. Lap-35 saw Hulkenberg overtake Schumacher before the Mercedes driver once again repaid the compliment. But it ended up being to much for Schumacher to cope with his degrading tyres and ultimately had to pit on lap-36 to come out in seventh. All of this and Button missed it all. Race result:
1.Button (McLaren), 2.Vettel (Red Bull), 3.Raikkonen (Lotus), 4.Hulkenberg (Force India), 5.Massa (Ferrari), 6.Webber (Red Bull), 7.Schumacher (Mercedes), 8.Vergne (Toro Rosso), 9.Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 10.Di Resta (Force India), 11.Rosberg (Mercedes), 12.Senna (Williams), 13.Kobayashi (Sauber), 14.Petrov (Caterham), 15.Glock (Marussia), 16.Pic (Marussia), 17.Kovalainen (Caterham), 18.De La Rosa (HRT) DNF: Grosjean (Lotus), Hamilton (McLaren), Alonso (Ferrari), Perez (Sauber), Maldonado (Williams), Karthikeyan (HRT)
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