Jenson Button wins at Spa
Button takes a dominant win in the Belgian Grand Prix, following a big accident at the first corner
Jenson Button has driven from pole to win the Belgian Grand Prix. This is the British driver's second victory of the season, following his win at the season-opener in Melbourne.
Button was first into turn one, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. But it was chaos behind.
Romain Grosjean made contact with Lewis Hamilton at Eau Rouge, before launching over the Sauber of Sergio Perez and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Kamui Kobayashi - who had made a poor start from second-place on the grid, with smoke billowing from his overheating Sauber - was collected by Hamilton, with the McLaren flying over the top of his cockpit.
Alonso was the worst affected, though, with severe damage to his car and there was a long delay before the championship leader climbed slowly from his car. Hamilton, Perez and Grosjean were also forced to retire, and the latter has since been handed a one-race ban and a 50,000 Euro fine for triggering the incident.
Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher made the most of the confusion, squeezing through from 11th and 13th on the grid to third and fifth respectively by lap four. The Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne were up to sixth and seventh, while Narain Karthikeyan in the HRT was up in 14th.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button was busy extending his lead. By lap nine, he was five seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus, and by lap 20 he was 13 seconds clear. A lap later, he made his first and only pit stop, and came out 7.6 seconds ahead of Raikkonen.
Vettel - who had a close call with Michael Schumacher at the entry to the pit lane on lap 20 - was also on a one-stop strategy. He finished second, thanks to a series of overtakes during the final part of the race.
Raikkonen finished where he started in third place, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg for Force India. Felipe Massa finished just ahead of Mark Webber, who will be investigated after the race for an unsafe release following a near miss with Massa.
Michael Schumacher finished seventh, having lost time in the closing stages with an unplanned second pit stop for a new set of tyres. Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta take the final few points.
Pastor Maldonado - who was under investigation for a jump start and an incident with Timo Glock at turn one - parked at Les Combes without a front wing on lap five. He receives a double penalty, with two five-place grid penalties for the next race at Monza.
Heikki Kovalainen had an incident with Karthikeyan in the pit lane. Kovalainen pulled out of his pit box into the path of the HRT, causing minor contact. The Caterham is under investigation for an unsafe release. Karthikeyan later retired following a collision with the tyre wall on lap 32.
This result means that Alonso still leads the drivers' championship with 164 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber with 140 and 132 points respectively.
Red Bull leads the constructors' championship with 272 points, ahead of McLaren with 218.
While we wait in anticipation for Italy this weekend, be sure to check out our gallery of the Belgian Grand Prix - with all the action from start to finish.
2012 Belgian Grand Prix results
Position | Driver | Team |
1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault |
3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault |
4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes |
5 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari |
6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault |
7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes |
8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari |
9 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari |
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes |
11 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes |
12 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault |
13 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari |
14 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault |
15 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth |
16 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth |
17 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth |
18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault |
Not classified | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth |
Not classified | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault |
Not classified | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari |
Not classified | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
Not classified | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes |
Not classified | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault |