F1 Belgian Grand Prix: Vettel cruises to win despite 'protests'

Three-time defending Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel won the F1 Belgian Grand Prix with ease at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Sunday ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton.

The 44 lap race turned into a fight for second place after Vettel capitalized on a better exit out of Eau Rouge to fly past Hamilton and quickly open up a lead of four seconds and then maintaining it till the end. Hamilton was unable to turn his fourth straight pole of the F1 season into a win and eventually got passed by the charging Alonso.

The race also made news as protesters from environmental group Greenpeace held up a banner on the main grandstand protesting oil supplier Shell's activities in the Arctic. Ironically it was also the weekend in which Shell had unveiled a film about the 1955 F1 race at the same circuit.

The rest of the top ten was rounded out by Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber, McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Lotus F1's Romain Grosjean, Force India's Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo.

Former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen seemed set for a top eight finish before he retired with brake problems after the 25th lap.

Vettel's fifth win of the season stretches his lead over Alonso to 46 points in the F1 standings with Lewis Hamilton a further 12 points behind.

Red Bull-Renault are not 77 points ahead of Mercedes in the constructors standings with eight races to go before the completion of the F1 season.