Jenson Button drove a comprehensively controlled race from the off to build upon a dominant showing in qualifying, and thus, claim his 14th formula one victory in his 50th race for McLaren.
The Belgian Grand Prix’s dynamics changed almost immediately in chaotic fashion, with Maldonado appearing to jump the lights fractionally as race director Charlie Whiting looked on shaking his head in disbelief.
What followed at the first corner was an incident resulting in drivers Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Romain Grojean all crashing out, with the latter appearing to be the culprit and instigator.
Lewis Hamilton was furious and rightly so, in a week where things couldn’t look bleaker, the sad passing of his Aunt, followed by the forced retirement at the hands of Grojean who, consciously drifted into Hamilton’s driving line causing the dangerous altercation and flying debris, at one point Grosjeans car was jolting precariously a top of Alonso’s Ferrari.
Alonso summed up his obvious dejection on crashing out: 'we pay for mistakes of other drivers, disappointing for myself and the team'
Grosjean, when interviewed soon after the incident conceded to being 'unsure' whether he moved across too aggressively from the start and into Lewis‘ racing line, affording this to having not seen the replay yet. Claiming the main thing is all drivers involved are ok.
Subsequently the Lotus driver has incurred the justified wrath of the F.I.A. who have sanctioned the Frenchman with a one race ban in addition to a 50,000Euro fine.
Speaking of sanctions, Pastor Maldonado, who did not escape the hoopla of the first corner unscathed, a damaged front wing forced an early exit for the Williams driver.
He would furthermore be held accountable for his part in the first corner pile up and the jump start that had been dually noted by officials, his reprimand, two five-place grid penalties to be imposed at Monza next weekend.
Of the incident and Grojeans gross misconduct, within the stewards report it was claimed;
"Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty"
“It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race... an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement"
"This (was) an extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others"
The presence of the safety car was immediately employed, with stewards scrambling to clear the debris.
Brit Button retained the lead through the ensuing mayhem of the first corner dramatics at spa, nevertheless a reshuffle in the pecking order would inevitably follow, with Hulkenberg moving into second from Kimi Raikkonen third, and Michael Schumacher placed in fourth.
Following the timely exit of the safety car 5 laps in, we were underway again, Jenson quickly opening up a 12.9second gap lead over his competitors by the 18th lap.
Prior to Jenson pulling away, Paul Di Resta in the Force India was first to pit, changing his Option tyres, that had been mandatory to the top ten from the beginning for that of the harder construct.
Meanwhile veteran Michael Schumacher rolled back the years with an exceptional passing move to get beyond Raikkonen to claim third spot.
Under the current conditions, that were fine and bright, albeit mild in temperature, the harder compound tyre switch initiated by Di Resta was being heeded by the rest of the field with both Mark Webber and Kimi Raikonen pitting to gain more tyre efficiency.
The pitting of Raikonnen allowed the seven times world champion Schumacher to slot into 2nd with ease, the German seemingly on a one stop strategy.
Michael wasn’t the only German moving through the pack as reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who, initially held 11th place on the grid passed Bruno Senna, the nephew of late great Ayrton Senna to take 6th, the Germans were on the charge.
Incident was not just on the track but off it, in the pits to be precise, as one of the Caterham’s clipped the back of a HRT, luckily minimal damage could be observed.
By the time Button was 12.9seconds clear in dominant fashion, the two Germans were second and third respectively, Vettel having made up an impressive recoup of eight places to the third and final podium place.
Soon after however, a close call unfolded between Germans Michael and Sebastian near the entrance to the pit lane.
Vettel, eager to overtake was caught unawares to Schumacher impending pit stop forcing the latter to cut across the prior in order to pit. A chink in the German efficiency armour?
Reason withstanding, the pit entry altercation between the Bavarian brothers was to be investigated after race.
By roughly the half point, Button had opened up a decisive gap, allowing for the Briton to pit and still come out in pole position, a fruitful side effect of an arguably perfect race so far.
No such luck for reigning world champion Vettel, as he pitted and emerged in sixth, with 23 laps of the regulation 44 completed, their was still time to make up the positional loss with others around him having to pit and his Red Bull team aiming for a one stop race, with necessary fuel at his disposal due thanks in part to the safety cars appearance.
A reshape again in podium places, with the stoic Button leading from Raikonnen and Hulkenberg.
In such a controlling position, Jenson received encouraging word from his McLaren pit crew that ‘Plan A is good’, presumably with two thirds of the race all but surpassed, the principled one stop strategy was on course for completion.
It was a familiar confrontation behind the assured Vodafone McLaren, with Vettel second and Schumacher third vying for superiority and points, with extra onus on Sebastian who could close the gap on Fernando Alonso in the Driver’s Championship following the Spaniards early spa retirement.
Drama again ensued in the pit lane, this time the Red Bull of Mark Webber and the red Ferrari of Felipe Massa, to be investigated after the race due to ‘Unsafe release incident in pits’ of Webber, who in fairness managed to avoid contact with the incoming Brazilians Ferrari on exiting the pits.
The HRT was not so lucky, spinning off at spa’s turn 12, Indian Karthikeyan falling victim to the gravel.
Elsewhere the battle for third was intensifying, with five cars bunching up hoping to lay claim to the final podium place.
Schumacher valiantly fended the chasing pack off as best he could, both Hulkenberg and Webber smelling blood with only 10 laps left to go, Raikonnen asserted himself drawing upon his previous duels with Michael to take third place.
Immediately after a ferocious passage of formula one, Hulkenberg and Schumacher exchanged 4th and 5th positions. Losing ground, Schumacher succumbed to a two stop finish and pitted accordingly.
Places one to three with eight laps remaining were Button out in front ahead of Vettel and Raikonnen.
So it proved to be, with the conclusion of the Belgian Grand Prix, Vettel moves up the championship table to second, 24 points behind Alonso.
"It was a crazy race from where I started," Vettel said. "The start was not so good and after the first corner when a lot of cars went off it was pretty crazy, fortunately we came back with a fantastic strategy.
"It was the right call, and the car was quite good in the race and we were able to pick up some places.
"I had a lot of fun racing a lot of people, racing Michael (Schumacher). I'm looking forward already to coming back here next year, this circuit is unbelievable."
The German's team-mate, Australian Mark Webber consolidates third, 12 points behind Vettel. Finnish Kimi Raikkonen is one point behind the Australian, 14 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
On his return to Spa, Raikkonen said "It's nice to be back here,"
"There are always a lot of fans and good racing - we have seen very nice racing here today. It's not the easiest day for me and the team - the car was not exactly as we liked.
"But we had a lot of fighting and we managed to get a lot of points for me and the team."
Button's comprehensive victory at Spa leaves the Briton sixth, but at 63 points behind Spaniard Alonso with 200 available in the remaining eight races, his title hopes are still a long shot, never say never?
On this victory, Jenson said "This circuit is so special to most drivers," Button said. "The way that it flows, the history here. So to get a victory here, lights to flag, is very special for me."
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