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Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory in his Red-Bull at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus never looked threatening to the flying Red-Bull throughout the race. With rain staying away, a rarity at Spa, Vettel had all the fire-power to get a convincing win in dry-weather conditions.
Here’s a look at the talking points of the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix.
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The dreaded first corner has been a witness to many a carnage at Spa. Romain Grosjean must have had nightmares before the race thinking about it. He triggered a horrifying incident last year and took out Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado with him, forcing a retirement for all involved. However, this time around, there was no drama and all 22 drivers managed to stay clean of each other and move up to Eau Rouge. The incident free first corner helped Sebastian Vettel force his way ahead of the pack and continue the good run for 44 laps before taking the Chequered Flag.
Fernando Alonso
The summer break seems to have helped Ferrari get back some speed in the much improved F138. Fernando Alonso had a stunning drive after starting 9th on the grid to finish 2nd at the podium. Alonso’s second place ensured that he moved ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who had to retire with an unfortunate brake failure, in the driver’s championship with only Vettel ahead of him. Felipe Massa, though, wasn’t the fastest but eventually managed to finish a decent 7th after starting 10th on the grid.
After his one lap heroics at the qualifying, Lewis Hamilton could manage a podium finishing 3rd after starting from pole position. That Mercedes clearly lacked the pace was evident when Sebastian Vettel made his move on Hamilton in the very first lap. But Hamilton managed to keep it steady in the end and move to 3rd place in the points table. Nico Rosberg followed him up with a commendable 4th place and managed to keep Mark Webber, Jenson Button and Felippe Massa at bay. A 3 / 4 finish though ensured Mercedes stayed ahead of Ferrari in the Constructor’s table.
Adrian Sutil
Force India’s decent finish during the first-half of the season seems to be getting blown away. The team, at one point, was ahead of McLaren but are now behind them in 6th place in the Constructor’s table. Paul di Resta was unfortunate getting knocked out of the race after Pastor Maldonado crashed his Williams into the back of the Force India. Adrian Sutil, though, managed to get a couple of points on the board after the team had failed to get any points in Germany and Hungary.
Danniel Ricciardo
The Red-Bull owned team has done well for itself and has managed to emerge as the leader of the back-markers. Danniel Ricciardo drove his heart out to get the last available point for his team and finished in 10th place at Spa. Pitted as a favourite to join Sebastian Vettel at Red-Bull for the 2014 season, the youngster is trying his best to gain as much experience as he can and learn from his mistakes. His team mate, Jean-Eric Vergne, though, wasn’t able to finish among the points but still managed to stay ahead of him by a point in the table (thanks to commendable finishes in Monaco and Canada). Toro Rosso are currently placed 7th in the Constructor’s tally.
