Formula One Belgian GP: Vettel inches closer to another Championship

Sebastian Vettel took another big step towards being ranked as one of the greatest drivers in history with his win in Spa. While many may argue that there are a few other drivers who are far better than Vettel, nobody can deny that he is a three time world driver’s champion, and from the looks of it he could equal Alain Prost’s championship count by season’s end.

Vettel started from second place in his Red Bull RB9,  behind Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes. Vettel never held back and drove like a man possessed, taking the lead from Hamilton after climbing Eau Rouge and onto the Kemmel straight. Hamilton never had a chance to defend and was forced to relinquish his position to Vettel, who was never really threatened all throughout the race, he even was cautioned by his team to save his tires as early as the third lap. He was just that dominant.

The F1 W04 of both Hamilton and Nico Rosberg showed that their qualifying pace was just that: good only for Saturday qualifying. Hamilton finished in third and Rosberg in fourth, behind the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, who drove the F138 up to second on the podium, after starting from ninth place. Alonso, known for his never give up attitude, surely made the bigwigs in Maranello pleased with his sixth podium of the year. Ferrari, hampered by an underperforming car in past races, has made vast improvements this time around to give Fernando a worthy challenger. Before the end of first lap, Fernando had already made his way up to 5th behind Jenson Button in his McLaren, and on lap four, after the drag reduction system (DRS) was enabled by race control a lap earlier, Fernando got behind Button and passed him with ease.

Kimi Raikkonen in his Lotus had brake issues since the start of the race, his car spewing out brake dust all throughout the track, and on lap 27, Kimi was able to dive past Felipe Massa at the Bus Stop Chicane. But his brakes failed him and he couldn’t make the corner. Kimi had to make his way onto the pits and eventual retirement. This ended the 27 consecutive races the Finn has finished in the points. Kimi was second in the championship standings before the start of the race, but with his DNF, he now falls to 4th, 63 points behind Vettel.

With eight races to go and 200 points up for grabs, the championship fight is between Vettel and Alonso, with Hamilton and Raikkonen still having an outside chance. All three drivers simply have to drive flat out and hope against hope that the RB9 of Sebastian encounters problems in two or more races. This would be the only chance for the three challengers to make up some ground on his lead.  Vettel’s rivals cannot have him take a podium, much less a win, if they have any dream of catching the exceptionally fast German.

The Italian Grand Prix will be held in two weeks time. Can Ferrari give the tifosi a race to remember? Or will the RB9 of Vettel dominate again and give him much needed points for his quest of his fourth crown? And eventual inclusion into the record books as one of the greatest drivers of all time.