Sebastian Vettel cruised to a comfortable Belgian Grand Prix victory at the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as a chaotic first corner crash became the major talking point following the sport’s return from it’s traditional summer break.

Vettel slipstreamed title-rival and pole sitter Lewis Hamilton down the long Kemmel Straight on the opening lap, flying passed the Silver Arrows with both Force India’s of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez close to making it four cars wide heading towards Les Combes.

Ocon pulled out having almost running wheel-to-wheel with Vettel, which allowed the German to keep the lead from Hamilton as Perez made the move around the outside of Ocon into third place.

That happened just before the deployment of the sole safety car of the Grand Prix following a dramatic first-corner incident at La Source, which saw McLaren’s Fernando Alonso launched into the air over Charles Leclerc.

Nico Hulkenberg locked the wheels of his RS18 works Renault and slammed into the rear of Alonso, who was sent into the back of and then over Leclerc and hitting the Sauber’s halo safety protection device in the process.

All three cars were eliminated from the race with all drivers emerging unscathed.

Daniel Ricciardo’s RB14 suffered a broken rear wing as a result of Alonso’s flying McLaren, which caused the Red Bull to run wide through La Source and gave Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari a right-rear puncture.

Ricciardo and Raikkonen then pitted to repair their respective entries before rejoining, although both drivers did not finish the race, Raikkonen returned to the pits a few laps later whilst Ricciardo fell two laps from the lead as the Red Bull crew worked on his car then retired from the Grand Prix with 13 laps remaining.

The safety car stayed out for four laps following the opening lap drama, with Hamilton pushing for the overtake on Vettel then backing off into the Bus Stop Chicane at the restart but the Briton fell back after a minor lock up.

Vettel built a comfortable three second gap until the Mercedes crew called Hamilton to stop on lap 21, with the German covering the Briton with his stop a lap later.

Hamilton’s “hammer time” out lap threatened to put him with a chance of attacking Vettel, but the Briton caught the Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the end of the lap, with Vettel emerging safe from DRS range.

The Ferrari rapidly re-built its solid lead, as Hamilton fell 11 seconds behind, with Vettel crossing the line to take his 52^nd career victory to surpass the legendary Alain Prost for third on the all-time winners list and reducing Hamilton’s lead in the championship to 17 points.

Verstappen came home in a distant third to complete the podium, having got ahead of both Force India’s earlier on, passing Ocon on the run down into Les Combes three laps after the race restart and making the same move on Perez a few laps later.

Verstappen was half a minute down from the lead with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas coming home fourth and finishing the same amount behind the Dutchman.

Bottas started at the back after receiving an engine penalty for exceeding the power-unit component limit for the season by taking the works Mercedes newly upgraded power-train but gradually moved up the field and passing Perez’s Force India with a few laps remaining.

That relegated the ‘new’ Force India team to fifth and sixth respectively on its debut, with it’s 18 points earned putting the Silverstone-based outfit instantly in-front of Williams in the Constructors standings and one point behind Sauber, which stays ahead only due to Marcus Ericsson taking home the final point on offer.

The Racing Point Force India team also equalled the best points scored for a team on making its Formula One debut, matching Mercedes total of 18 scored in 2010 and Brawn in 2009 (under the old points scoring system).

Haas pairing Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished seventh and eighth respectively, which pushed the Kannapolis/Banbury outfit to just six points behind Renault in the battle for fourth in the Constructors Championship.

Red Bull-bound Pierre Gasly took home ninth place for Honda-powered Toro Rosso and ahead of the aforementioned Sauber of Ericsson who completed the top ten.

Carlos Sainz finished outside the top ten in 11^th place meaning Renault have failed to score points for the second time this season.

The Williams duo of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin ended the Belgian Grand Prix in 12^th and 13^th places and in-front of Toro Rosso’s Brendan Hartley and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who were brought up the rear and finished a lap down.

Formula 1 2018 Johnnie Walker Belgian Grand Prix Race Results Classification (44 Laps)

2018 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings

1. Lewis Hamilton – 231 Points.
2. Sebastian Vettel – 214 Points.
3. Kimi Raikkonen – 146 Points.
4. Valtteri Bottas – 144 Points.
5. Max Verstappen – 120 Points.
6. Daniel Ricciardo – 118 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 52 Points.
8. Kevin Magnussen – 49 Points.
9. Fernando Alonso – 44 Points.
10. Sergio Perez – 40 Points.

2018 Formula 1 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 375 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 360 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 238 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 82 Points.
5. Haas F1 Team – 76 Points.
6. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 52 Points.
7. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 30 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 19 Points.
9. Racing Point Force India F1 Team – 18 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 4 Points.

Round 14 of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship goes from one legendary circuit to another, to the famous Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken D’Italia 2018 from Friday August 31- Sunday September 2.