Spa-Francorchamps: Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel got the better of Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Vettel finished 16.8 seconds ahead of Alonso and nearly 30 clear of Hamilton and this win he also extended his overall championship lead. It was Vettel’s fifth win of the season and 31st of his career.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso drove brilliantly from ninth on the grid to take second place ahead of Hamilton and move back into second overall in the title race.

Surprised by his unexpected win, Vettel said, “I don’t think we expected to be dominant here, and it surprised all of us actually; it's a great result. I think we knew going into the race that our race pace, compared to Mercedes, maybe gave us a little in hand, but we didn't know where we were compared to the others, especially Ferrari, and Lotus looked very quick in dry conditions also. It wasn't clear if the rain was going to come at the end of the race, so we kept pushing, but the gap we had by that stage meant we were able to control the race from there and the last couple of laps weren't too stressful.”

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso said: “Today’s result shows that the outcome of qualifying bears little relation to the result on Sunday, although I think that even if I’d started from pole I would still have finished second, because Vettel was quicker. At the start we immediately made up some places and all in a rush, first passing Button, then Rosberg and Hamilton, so I found myself six seconds behind Vettel, but if one looks at the final gap of 16 seconds, we can but congratulate him and his team. The car worked well in all conditions, with a full fuel load at first and then with a lighter one at the end and, on top of that, the extra speed we had on the straight meant I could overtake without taking too many laps to do so.”