Sebastian Vettel was the winner of the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix. It has been a very easy race for him. His lead is now bigger than ever before and he is waiting for the next couple of races to be crowned champion for the second time in the row.
The race started with the usual suspect, Mark Webber, "forgetting" to start once more, thus dropping to P8. Bruno Senna crashed on Alguersuari and caused a small panic on La Source. Alonso who just escaped crashing managed to take Hamilton for P4. Lewis Hamilton had already lost his place to Felipe Massa and a spectacular Nico Rosberg who took Vettel for P1.
On lap 3 Vettel retook the first place, ahead of Rosberg, Massa, Alonso and Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel was the first if the leaders to pit (along with his team mate Mark Webber), on lap 5, for his second set of soft tyres.
On the next lap Alonso made his move on Felipe Massa for P2. He passed him with a risky move which caused Massa to lose his place to Hamilton also.
A lap later, on lap 7, Alonso passed Rosberg for P1 right after Eau Rouge, while Hamilton also stuck behind him, having already passed Felipe Massa. Hamlton passed Rosberg a lap later for P2.
Alonso made his stop on lap 8 and rejoined right behind Mark Webber in P9. Fernando Alonso started fighting his way up and passed Webber on lap 10. On lap 11 it was time for Lewis Hamilton to stop for his tyre change. He managed to stay out 5 more laps than Vettel in an effort to save a stop during the race.
On lap 13 Hamilton passed Kobayashi before Eau Rouge. Kobayashi tried to pass the Briton again right after that. He crashed on him and at that point, Hamilton's race was over as he went out of track, crashing on the barriers. Safety car has been deployed.
Vettel took advantage of the safety car and made his second pit stop. He rejoined third, behind Mark Webber who had only made one pit stop. Alonso was in first place but with the safety car in track and the gaps between the drivers almost to zero, it seemed, at the time, that it was going to be Vettel's race. An easy one indeed.
Sebastian Vettel passed Fernando Alonso on lap 17, at Les Combes. Alonso did not do much to protect his place. At the end of lap 20, Jenson Button made his move on Michael Schumacher for P7. Jenson Button already passed Sutil for P6 and made his move on Massa for P5 on lap 25.
Button was flying at that time and passed Rosberg at Les Combes, on lap 26. An incredible set of laps for Jenson Buttonwho managed to climb to P4.
All three leaders were suffering from blistering at the time. However they kept pushing harder and harder in an effort to guess what the best strategy is.
Alonso made what looked to be his final pit stop, on lap 30. He changed to the harder component. Vettel immediately stopped during the next lap, as expected.
On lap 33, Vettel was leading the race, followed by Alonso, Webber and Button. The fastest men on track was Mark Webber and Jenson Button. Jenson has been running on the softer component while Webber was 1.5sec faster than Alonso, while on the same, harder, component.
On lap 37, Mark Webber passed Alonso before the braking point for Les Combes, for P2. Red Bull was on its way for an easy 1-2 finish. With Alonso finishing behind Vettel, Hamilton retired and Button further behind, the championship is practically over.
The final podium overtaking took place on lap 42, when the incredible Briton, Jenson Button, passed Alonso for P3. Schumacher also passed Rosberg for P5, after Nico Rosberg was ordered to "save fuel", by his team.
The race results are as follows :
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h26.44.893
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 3.741
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.669
4. Alonso Ferrari + 13.022
5. Schumacher Mercedes + 47.464
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 48.674
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 59.713
8. Massa Ferrari + 1m06.076
9. Petrov Renault + 1m11.917
10. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1m17.615
11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1m23.994
12. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1m31.976
13. Senna Renault + 1m32.985
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
Did Not Finish
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 27
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 13
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 12
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
