All of which should not detract from Button’s achievement. The Briton, who
claimed his first pole position in over three years on Saturday with a
commanding pole lap, was faultless again on Sunday, adding another classic
circuit to his increasingly impressive CV. As he pointed out in the press
conference later, it showed once again what he can do when he feels
comfortable in the car and puts it on pole, as he did repeatedly in the
first part of his title-winning season in 2009.
With Pastor Maldonado jumping the lights from sixth on the grid – a blunder
which earned the Venezuelan a five-place grid penalty for Monza, which he
promptly doubled by causing a collision with Marussia’s Timo Glock – there
was already plenty of movement off the start line.
But nothing could have prepared the thousands of fans packed into the
grandstand at La Source for what they were about to witness; Grosjean
leaving Hamilton no room for manoeuvre, sending the McLaren into a brief
spin on the grass and then back into the Lotus driver, who in turn took out
Alonso and Sauber’s Sergio Perez.
Hamilton was quickly out of his car to remonstrate with Grosjean, who also
caused a first lap incident in his only other race here, in 2009, that
accounted for both Button and Hamilton, but Alonso stayed unmoving in his
cockpit. As replays were shown of the Lotus flying over the front of the
Ferrari there were briefly fears that the Spaniard might have been hurt, but
thankfully he was soon stepping gingerly from his car.
With the chaos unfolding behind him, Button collected his thoughts behind the
safety car and when that retired at the start of lap five, he sped away from
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg with a minimum of fuss.
Kimi Raikkonen, who had been expected to provide Button with his sternest
challenge from third on the grid, was never able to get close to him,
although the Finn did provide the race with its best overtaking manoeuvre, a
sensational and hugely daring dart around the outside of Schumacher into Eau
Rouge.
Raikkonen eventually took third behind Vettel who surged from 10th on the grid
to become the day’s biggest winner, banking 18 crucial points as he closed
the gap to Alonso.
Button can almost certainly forget the title race. Despite his win, and the 25
points he took out of Alonso, he still trails the Spaniard by 63 points with
eight races remaining and four other drivers ahead of him in the pecking
order should the Ferrari man trip up. “It is a massive long shot to win the
title, but today proves you can claw back 25 points very quickly,” he
conceded, preferring instead to soak in what was, in its own right, a
magnificent victory. “This circuit is so special to most drivers,” Button
concluded.
“The way that it flows, the history. To get a victory here, lights to flag, is
very special for me.”
Leading final positions after race (44 Laps): 1 Jenson Button (Gbr)
McLaren 1hr 29mins 08.530secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull
1:29:22.154, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:29:33.864, 4 Nico
Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:29:36.373, 5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
1:29:38.375, 6 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:29:39.774, 7 Michael Schumacher
(Ger) Mercedes GP 1:30:01.904, 8 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso
1:30:07.395, 9 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:30:11.512, 10
Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:30:12.313, 11 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
GP 1:30:13.641, 12 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams 1:30:20.059, 13 Kamui
Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:31:04.649, 14 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham
at 1 lap, 15 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia at 1 lap, 16 Charles Pic (Fra)
Marussia at 1 lap, 17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham at 1 lap, 18 Pedro de
la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1 at 1 lap
Not classified: 19 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 29 laps completed,
20 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 4 laps completed, 21 Sergio Perez (Mex)
Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps completed, 22 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 0 laps
completed, 23 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 0 laps completed, 24 Romain
Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 0 laps completed
Leading World Championship standings after Belgian Grand Prix:
Drivers: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 164pts, 2 Sebastian Vettel
(Ger) Red Bull 140, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 132, 4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin)
Lotus F1 Team 131, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 117, 6 Jenson Button (Gbr)
McLaren 101, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 77, 8 Romain Grosjean (Fra)
Lotus F1 Team 76, 9 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 47, 10 Michael
Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 35, 11 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 35, 12 Kamui
Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 33, 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 31,
14 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 29, 15 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India
28, 16 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams 24, 17 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia
Toro Rosso 8, 18 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 4, 19 Vitaly
Petrov (Rus) Caterham 0, 20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham 0, 21 Timo
Glock (Ger) Marussia 0, 22 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia 0, 23 Narain
Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 24 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1 0
Manufacturers: 1 Red Bull 272pts, 2 McLaren 218, 3 Lotus F1 Team 207, 4
Ferrari 199, 5 Mercedes GP 112, 6 Sauber-Ferrari 80, 7 Force India 59, 8
Williams 53, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 12, 10 Caterham 0, 11 Marussia 0, 12
HRT-F1 0