Belgian GP: Button Survives Carnage To Win

Jenson Button put his pole position to great use to get ahead of the lap one carnage and storm to his first Spa win ahead of Sebastian Vettel

The 44-lap grand prix started with a bang as Romain Grosjean cut across the track and into Lewis Hamilton, catching the McLaren side-on.

The ensuing accident caught out Fernando Alonso, who had the Lotus chassis narrowly miss his head after it was launched into the air when it hit Sergio Perez's Sauber. Kamui Kobayashi, Pastor Maldonado - who was under investigation for jumping the start and later retired - and Pedro de la Rosa all pitted for repairs.

The race resumed on lap 6 after the marshals cleared the debris at the La Source hairpin with Button quickly pulling out a lead, first over Kimi Raikkonen, then Nico Hulkenberg, then Michael Schumacher and then Sebastian Vettel.

As the laps counted down the McLaren driver put in a faultless performance, pitting on lap 20 with a gap big enough to see him emerge back at the front.

The second half of the grand prix begun with Raikkonen leading the charge for second. He was 15.7s behind Button when he came in for his second stop, elevating Vettel to second with Schumacher third. Vettel set about trying to haul Button back but was unable to prevent the McLaren driver from claiming his second win of the season and the much-needed 25 points.

Raikkonen took third place after an incredible overtaking move on Schumacher through Eau Rouge. The German pitting shortly after when it became apparent his W03 could not complete the grand prix on one stop.

Hulkenberg was fourth ahead of Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Schumacher.

The race ended with three investigations on the go; Caterham for an unsafe release and hitting HRT in the pits; Schumacher and Vettel for another unsafe move when the former pitted and Webber for an unsafe release that almost put him into Massa in the pits.

Results
01 Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h29:08.530
02 Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 13.624
03 Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 25.334
04 Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 27.843
05 Massa Ferrari + 29.845
06 Webber Red Bull-Renault + 31.244
07 Schumacher Mercedes + 53.374
08 Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 58.865
09 Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:02.982
10 Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:03.783
11 Rosberg Mercedes + 1:05.111
12 Senna Williams-Renault + 1:11.529
13 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:56.119
14 Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15 Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
16 Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
17 Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18 De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19 Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 30
20 Maldonado Williams-Renault + 5
21 Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1
22 Alonso Ferrari + 1
23 Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1
24 Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1

Source: Planet-F1