Formula 1
Champ: Vettel holds his latest trophy aloft as Hamilton and Alonso applaud
VETTEL WINS AT SPA—
SEBASTIAN VETTEL: “I don’t think we expected to be dominant here, and it surprised all of us actually; it’s a great result. I think we knew going into the race that our race pace, compared to Mercedes, maybe gave us a little in hand, but we didn’t know where we were compared to the others, especially Ferrari, and Lotus looked very quick in dry conditions also. It wasn’t clear if the rain was going to come at the end of the race, so we kept pushing, but the gap we had by that stage meant we were able to control the race from there and the last couple of laps weren’t too stressful.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: “It was a fantastic win for Sebastian and the team, which came down to the first lap. He had an average start, but managed to position himself well going through the first corner and he knew that the first run through Eau Rouge up the hill was going to be critical. He went for it, got in the tow and managed to make the move stick round the outside of Lewis and then got his head down and built up a great lead. For Mark, his clutch wasn’t good in preparation going to the grid. We did our best to tidy it up but he conceded a place to Rosberg off the start. Once he was comprised in his positioning within the pack, he wasn’t able to get a clean run through La Source and Alonso managed to get a run on him down the hill and pass him into Eau Rouge. Thereafter it was a matter of trying to find a way through, past the Mercedes and Ferrari ahead, but unfortunately whenever we got close enough we seemed to lose aero performance and so Mark couldn’t get close enough to make a move. We didn’t come here expecting to win today, so it’s great to get a victory to start the second half of the season”
Pos Driver Team 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2. Alonso Ferrari 3. Hamilton Mercedes 4. Rosberg Mercedes 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 7. Massa Ferrari 8. Grosjean Lotus-Renault 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11. Perez McLaren-Mercedes 12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 14. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 15. Bottas Williams-Renault 16. van der Garde Caterham-Renault 17. Maldonado Williams-Renault 18. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 19. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth Fastest lap: Not classified/retirements: Driver Team Di Resta Force India-Mercedes Raikkonen Lotus-Renault Pic Caterham-Renault World Championship standings, round 11: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Vettel 197 1. Red Bull-Renault 312 2. Alonso 151 2. Mercedes 235 3. Hamilton 139 3. Ferrari 218 4. Raikkonen 134 4. Lotus-Renault 187 5. Webber 115 5. McLaren-Mercedes 65 6. Rosberg 96 6. Force India-Mercedes 61 7. Massa 67 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 25 8. Grosjean 53 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7 9. Button 47 9. Williams-Renault 1 10. Di Resta 36 11. Sutil 25 12. Perez 18 13. Vergne 13 14. Ricciardo 12 15. Hulkenberg 7 16. Maldonado 1