Sebastian Vettel led every lap of the Belgian Grand Prix en route to a comfortable victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday.

At the start, Lewis Hamilton had maintained his pole position through La Source, but chaos would ensue behind as Nico Hulkenberg smashed into the back of Fernando Alonso, sending the McLaren over the top of Charles Leclerc's Sauber.

In a crash very reminiscent of Romain Grosjean's aerial incident in 2012, the Halo would this time protect the Monegasque as Alonso's car was seen bouncing off the cockpit protection device.

Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull would also be hit by the flying McLaren, damaging his rear wing, with the Australian then running into the back of Kimi Raikkonen, giving the Finn a puncture.

Up ahead, Vettel made the decisive move with a perfect run through Eau Rouge behind the Mercedes and would breeze past along the Kemmel Straight as the straight line speed of the Ferrari proved too much.

Both Force India's, starting third and fourth, also looked to attack into Les Combes with Esteban Ocon almost able to slide into the lead as the top four briefly ran side-by-side, but it was the German that emerged in front.

Finally, the Safety Car would be called to clear the debris back at La Source, bringing a frantic first few kilometres to a close.

When the races restarted, Hamilton considered a pass into the Bus Stop chicane before backing out but would lose ground and prevented the Briton from attacking into Les Combes on the next lap.

It was then that the pace advantage of Vettel was revealed as he pulled away by 1.6 seconds on the opening lap before going on to create a three-second margin in short order.

Having moved up to fifth in the early battles, Max Verstappen went on to catch and pass Ocon and then Perez with textbook moves into Les Combes to claim third.

Starting from 17th after engine penalties, Valtteri Bottas was another driver to suffer damage at La Source after hitting Sergey Sirotkin but, after pitting, he too would make his way through the field, including a great move on Brendon Hartley through Eau Rouge.

In the build-up to the pit-stops, Hamilton would start to close the gap to Vettel ahead and would attempt the undercut by stopping early but, despite gaining over two seconds, it wouldn't be enough as the Ferrari driver changed tyres a lap later and remained in front.

From that point on, the same pattern re-emerged as the Ferrari stretched away, going on to take the checkered flag by 11 seconds from the world champion with Verstappen having a lonely run to the final podium place in third

Bottas' recovery continued with move after move on the Kemmel Straight and eventually, the Mercedes driver would make it up to fourth as the advantage of the top three teams over the rest again proved very significant.

Raikkonen and Ricciardo would later retire, as the Finn had a problem with his DRS and the Australian accepted defeat after falling a lap down from the Lap 1 damage.

Perez and Ocon still gave Force India plenty to be happy about as they led the midfield in fifth and sixth, at the same time scoring enough points to jump right back up to ninth in the Constructors' Championship having lost all their points from the first 12 races after changing owner.

Haas looked to hunt them down but their chase was fruitless with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen seventh and eighth.

Pierre Gasly produced another solid performance to finish ninth for Toro Rosso as Marcus Ericsson enjoying an entertaining back-and-forth battle with Brendon Hartley en route to scoring the final point in 10th.

Renault left Francorchamps empty-handed as Carlos Sainz finished 11th, ahead of the two Williams' as Sergey Sirotkin again led teammate Lance Stroll.

Hartley would drop back to 14th with Stoffel Vandoorne having the unwelcome stat of finishing as the last classified runner in every session during his home race weekend in 15th.

The full finishing order can be seen below:

Far from a classic Belgian Grand Prix with the decisive moment coming on the opening lap, but it was still a crucial victory for Sebastian Vettel to stop Hamilton's momentum and reduce his championship lead to 17 points as F1 heads straight to Monza for the Italian GP this weekend.

Robert Kubica insists he is ready to go should he get the call to replace Lance Stroll, as the Canadian's inevitable move to Force India edges closer.

After reports the 19-year-old could make the move as soon as the Italian Grand Prix next weekend, the latest update from RaceFans is he will have a seat fitting at Silverstone on Tuesday which would back up the Monza theory.

If that does turn out to be the case, Kubica would be the only realistic choice for Williams to step up but that possibility doesn't phase the 33-year-old who has been in the role of reserve and development driver all season.

“I feel ready because otherwise, I would not sign a contract with Williams for this year,” he told Autosport. “It’s on my desk that, ‘You have to keep being ready and in case something happens, you have to step up’.

“Of course, it is not easy when you have to drive against the top drivers in the middle of the season. Although I have some opportunities to drive the car, you still lack experience, but you have to do it.

“I also think when Williams approached me for this role, they also have no doubts that I can do it but what’s happening currently and a lot of speculation is not affecting myself.

“I’m doing my job and then what the future will bring, we will see.”

When Stroll makes the move, it is all-but-confirmed that his teammate will be Sergio Perez, who admitted his future has been decided although the announcement was on hold.

The Mexican was asked for his thoughts on Lance, whose reputation is being hit again by the notion of his father buying his career.

“I think it’s so hard to know someone as a driver when you are not being alongside him,” said Perez. “There is so much difference in Formula 1 across teams performance, between cars you see a difference of two-and-a-half seconds or so.

“I think he did not too bad alongside Felipe [Massa] which I think is a very experienced driver. Right now Williams is in a very difficult position so it’s very hard to judge.

“I think he’s grown up, he has good experience now with two years at Williams, we’ll see what he’s able to do in that regard. It’s very hard to judge someone when they’re not your teammate.”

Sebastian Vettel admits he and Ferrari could have reacted better to the changing conditions during Q3 in qualifying for the Belgian GP.

The Scuderia appeared on course to get at least one car on the front row and likely pole as they were embroiled in a close-fought battle with Lewis Hamilton in the dry at Spa-Francorchamps.

However, in the final top 10 shoot-out, everything changed as a rain shower hit before any driver to could complete a flying lap and forced a mad scramble to switch to intermediate tyres.

"It was confusion," Vettel conceded. "It was just not as calm as I think it could have been.

"I guess everybody had in these conditions, swapping tyres, there was a little bit of miscommunication of where to start in the pit lane.

"It was a bit chaotic and not great from a management point of view."

Then, as was the case in Germany and Hungary in the damp conditions, it was Hamilton and Mercedes who had the clear advantage in performance.

"I don't feel we put everything together in the last lap," he said. "We didn't time it great. It didn't feel as if I got everything out for various reasons, therefore it was a bit of a scrappy session.

"It wasn't a nice ending to a great qualifying up to that point. It's great fun but obviously not very rewarding when you know you could have done a bit better."

Even so, to secure second on the grid alongside his main championship rival was at least a result of sorts for the 31-year-old.

"In these conditions, it can be anything. You might as well take second from where we are," he acknowledged. "You saw also the others not putting enough fuel for the end, so it can be a lot worse."

One such driver who was under-fuelled was teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn having to stop early and settle for sixth on the grid.

"Honestly, I don't know what we did, apart from obviously not the best thing," Kimi lamented. "We need to see what happened obviously. There was time left, but we needed to pit. Far from ideal.

“I knew how much fuel we had, but honestly I didn’t know we didn’t have time to refuel and go out again.

"I guess we should have stopped when we changed tyres and put more fuel and then we manage to do more laps, but I don’t know the reasons why."

Stoffel Vandoorne has hit back at McLaren for a raft of reliability issues which hindered his progress during practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The former GP2 champion is under increasing pressure to perform if he wants to remain in his seat for next season and at Spa-Francorchamps, the British team made their intentions clearer by offering junior driver Lando Norris a drive in Practice 1.

It has already been confirmed the current Formula 2 driver will also drive next Friday at Monza as his evaluation continues, however, Vandoorne insists he is not able to offer a true representation of his ability.

“Obviously they want to see how we compare but I think first of all the team should give a car that is able to run on track before we can really compare,” he told reporters.

“Problems in FP1 with the brakes at the start and then an engine related issue later. We didn’t really manage to get any proper laps in.

“In FP2 as well we started off with some more problems. We more or less had one normal run. It didn’t really feel like I’ve been working today.”

At the last race in Hungary, the Belgian was running close behind Alonso in the points before a gearbox problem forced him to retire from the race and it is not lost on Stoffel how his side of the garage seems to be attracting the issues.

“I’ve always been very positive and the past few races have been very difficult, but now the problems are starting to fall on my side a lot," the 26-year-old said.

“It’s a bit difficult to understand why it’s always happening to me. I try to be optimistic but every time I get in the car there’s a problem again.

"I just want to have a normal day without problems and then things will go a lot better. I really feel the support of the people here. It hurts not to be able to give them a good result.”

In qualifying, Vandoorne, who was involved in an incident with Valtteri Bottas during final practice, finished slowest overall.

Esteban Ocon has received the backing of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who have called on Formula 1 to ensure he remains on the grid after his anticipated Force India exit.

The young Frenchman, who made his debut at this race with Manor two years ago, scored his best result on a Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps as he mastered the wet conditions in Q3 to claim third for the Silverstone-based team.

However, after this weekend, his future is uncertain with speculation new Force India owner Lawrence Stroll will be moving his son from Williams for the Italian Grand Prix in a week's time.

While that has yet to be confirmed, what is now certain is Ocon will not be racing there in 2019 after microphones picked up a conversation between the 21-year-old and Vettel after qualifying.

"Next year, where are you going? You are staying here?," the Ferrari driver asked in a transcript published Motorsport.com.

"No, it [the seat] is taken," Ocon replied.

When Sebastian then asked "by who?", he added: "Have a guess! The one who bought it!"

Ocon is helped by being part of the Mercedes young driver program and such is the impression he has made in F1, he is considered the eventual replacement for Hamilton at the German manufacturer.

Speaking in the press conference after claiming pole, the reigning world champion bemoaned the current situation which is putting his future at risk.

"Unfortunately we're in a weird place in F1 where some teams, rather than take the up-and-coming kid, they take the money," he noted.

"It means the structure of the sport is probably wrong, in terms of how the funds are distributed.

Also Read:

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"I've not read who has signed where and what seats are available but he needs to be in a top car as he is one of the top drivers here," Lewis added

"You can't let someone who has more money leap in front of a better driver. It shouldn't happen. The governing body definitely has to [address it] somehow."

Vettel agreed, pointing to his ability to perform in difficult situations such as that seen in Q3.

"From the outside, it's difficult to judge but I think he's doing everything right," he said.

"It's very good to get this qualifying session under the belt, get the car in P3 where it doesn't belong, I think that shows enough in a session like that that can be quite chaotic and you can easily do a mistake.

"To hold it together is crucial and that's what he did."

Lewis Hamilton has paid tribute to Fernando Alonso describing the Spaniard as "one of the greatest drivers" to have competed in Formula 1.

During the summer break, the double world champion announced he would be leaving McLaren at the end of this season and while he has not ruled out a future return, does admit he considers this to be his last year on the grid.

The relationship between Hamilton and Alonso has been well-documented from their infamous bust-up at the British team in 2007 to the healthy respect they have since gained for each other in the decade since.

However, commenting on Fernando's decision to leave, the now Mercedes driver admits he won't particularly miss his former teammate.

“Naturally I don’t hold sadness for it. There’s no reason for me to hold sadness for it,” Hamilton said on Thursday.

“For sure, in the racing world he will be missed, and within the racing the world he has been a really big part of it and is one of the greatest drivers that have ever been here.

“I would say it is a shame that he is not as decorated as his ability deserves, but sport is a very interesting machine and it’s not just about being a great driver," he added.

“It is how you manoeuvre, how you play the game, it’s like a chess game and how you position yourself with all the different things that are also part of the package.”

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Nevertheless, still driving at a level which puts him among the best on the grid, the Briton does admire the longevity of Alonso's career which began with Minardi in 2001.

"17 seasons is a lot, and I have huge respect for that because it is not easy for a driver to stay that long and perform," Hamilton said.

“It’s a lot of commitment, a lot of time and a lot of dedication that people might not understand and appreciate. But naturally, as within any sport, I can appreciate it.”

Lewis Hamilton once again showed his and Mercedes' wet-weather prowess as rain intervened to give him pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

A thrilling battle was on the cards between the Briton and the two Ferraris as less than a tenth of a second covering the top three in Q2, but a downpour in the early minutes of the top 10 shoot-out forced all the drivers back to the pits for intermediate tyres.

With Ferrari's power advantage proving the difference, Mercedes would look to use Valtteri Bottas, who's final qualifying position was irrelevant due to engine penalties, to create a slipstream for Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight.

Proving how quickly the conditions changed though, the Finn would spin in front of his teammate through the high-speed Blanchimont corner on the slicks though avoided any contact with the barrier.

Once on the right tyres, the two Red Bulls made a quick turnaround work to go 1-2 before Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel both moved ahead as lap times increased to over two minutes.

As the rain eased and conditions improved though, Hamilton, who was fifth and ran off the track at Fagner at one point, produced another incredible lap to lower the benchmark by three seconds.

Despite being behind on the track, Vettel had no response finishing seven-tenths back from his championship rival though did consolidate second.

Force India's rollercoaster few weeks were repeated just within the 12-minute Q3 segment as their drivers would attempt a flying lap on the slick tyres only for Sergio Perez to almost hit the barriers at Raidillon.

A quick switch onto intermediates allowed the Mexican to jump upto third with his final effort but teammate Esteban Ocon would set the fastest first sector of anyone on his last lap and would jump up into third, securing the second row for the newly re-entered team.

The result marks their best ever collective qualifying result, with Giancarlo Fisichella claiming pole in 2009, and gives them a great platform to score points having had their 52 from the first 12 races wiped clean. 

Haas' problems from practice appeared to disappear in qualifying and Romain Grosjean made the most of the tricky conditions to claim fifth.

Raikkonen's hpes were dashed as, in the confusion, Ferrari didn't put enough fuel in his car and he returned to the pits for the final minutes, missing out on the best conditions and having to settle for sixth.

Also big losers were Red Bull as they too under-fuelled their cars expected the weather to worsen but predominantly the decision to run less downforce left them unable to find enough grip in the wet.

Max Verstappen was seventh ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in eighth with only Kevin Magnussen behind them in ninth.

Bottas returned to the pits after his spin and decided not to run again meaning he officially finished P10 but will start from the back of the grid.

Just missing out on Q3 were the two Toro Rosso's in a better-than-expected showing. Red Bull-bound Pierre Gasly will move up to 10th with teammate Brendon Hartley enjoying a more competitive session to finish 12th fastest.

Particularly notable was the Honda-powered team beating both Saubers as Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson dropped to 13th and 14th, after looking strong contenders to make Q3.

The Monegasque later revealed brake problems had hampered his performance while Ericsson also appeared to return to the pits early with an issue.

Nico Hulkenberg was 15th but will join Bottas in starting from the back of the grid after taking new engine components and therefore elected not to run in Q2.

Renault's day was not made any better by Carlos Sainz becoming a surprise casualty in Q1 as he struggled with the rear of his car and ended up 16th fastest.

Ironically the Spaniard was just in front of Fernando Alonso's McLaren in 17th, the car he will be driving in 2019, as they and Williams completed the grid.

Sergey Sirotkin would finish ahead of Lance Stroll as Stoffel Vandoorne's miserable home race weekend continued as the Belgian finished slowest overall.

Those from Sainz downward will all gain two places on the grid, however, with Hulkenberg and Bottas taking the engine penalties.

A full look at the results from a remarkable qualifying can be seen below:

Ferrari maintained their grip at the top of the timesheets as Sebastian Vettel led teammate Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.063s in final practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.

In a very tight session between the top three, it was the Finn who looked just to have the edge as Vettel and Lewis Hamilton came close but couldn't quite surpass him during the initial qualifying simulations.

Ultimately, the four-time world champion found just enough to squeeze ahead with a best time of 1m42.661s on the Supersoft tyre.

Hamilton was a tenth back in third for Mercedes, as the gaps around the longest circuit on the calendar were more akin to what you'd expect in Austria or Monaco.

A full picture wasn't gained, however, as an incident between Valtteri Bottas and Stoffel Vandoorne on the Kemmel Straight saw the red flags called with 10 minutes to go.

The Belgian looked to pass the Mercedes driver who had just left the pits, but would be pushed onto the grass as Bottas didn't anticipate the fast closing speed of the McLaren driver after Eau Rouge.

Vandoorne only made light contact with the barrier in a lucky escape and the matter is being investigated by the stewards.

Bottas would finish fourth in the final standings ahead of the two Red Bulls in fifth and sixth. The two drivers have taken differing approaches too, with Max Verstappen running extreme low downforce while teammate Daniel Ricciardo has opted to run with more wing.

The result was appreciable with the Dutchman four-tenths clear of the Australian who may think about reconsidering ahead of qualifying.

In the midfield, Charles Leclerc held a three-tenths gap over the rest in seventh for Sauber with the two Force India's continuing to run well as Sergio Perez took eighth and Esteban Ocon 10th.

Renault also remain competitive with Nico Hulkenberg ninth as Haas continue to struggle. Romain Grosjean was 12th for the third straight session, two places ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen in 14th.

Pierre Gasly suffered an embarrassing spin exiting the pit-lane after the red flag and finishing 15th won't exactly help the Frenchman's mood at Toro Rosso.

Completing the grid, both Williams' beat both McLaren's despite attempts by the latter to slipstream each other down the straights, something that was also a contributing factor to Vandoorne's incident with Bottas.

Back at the front, Ferrari remain favourites to take pole the question is with which driver and just how close can Hamilton get? 

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has revealed Daniel Ricciardo had the contract he requested in front of him to remain with the team in 2019 but opted not to sign it.

This weekend has seen the fallout from the Australian's surprise decision to join Renault for next season during the summer break with a spat between Horner and Fernando Alonso an unexpected consequence.

Teammate Max Verstappen also offered his own scepticism to Ricciardo's explanation of wanting a "change of scenery" at the French manufacturer, but now the Red Bull chief has revealed exactly how the whole story played out.

"The way the momentum had been going, we'd been talking since February about this," he told Sky Sports.

"Dietrich [Mateschitz, Red Bull owner] got involved round Barcelona. By the time we got to the Austrian Grand Prix, the whole lot looked pretty much there.

"There was an agreement in principle. It was about sorting out the paperwork and over Hockenheim and Hungary that happened.

"Daniel then decided after Hungary that he wanted a one-year deal. Dietrich agreed to that, and so by Monday afternoon, he [Daniel] got the piece of paper he wanted sitting in front of him."

Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has previously stated that Ricciardo told the team he would sign during that post-race test but that did not happen.

"He drove the car on Tuesday in the test in Hungary, and then I think the flight to America on holiday he decided actually he wanted, despite having everything that he'd asked for, that it still didn't feel right and that he wanted to do something else," Horner said.

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The Briton admits such was the surprise of the 29-year-old's U-turn, and given his jokey nature, it took him quite a while to actually believe Ricciardo when he said he would be leaving.

"I thought he was winding me up to begin with. I thought it was a joke for the summer holiday. I was expecting the paperwork to be signed. He'd even recorded a message announcing his renewal.

"But the third time he told me I realised it for was real. You just have to wish him well. He's been a great, great driver for us in our team and we'll be disappointed to see him leave."

Ferrari drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, were keeping a lid on their expectations despite a strong first day for the Scuderia at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Both men led a session apiece at Spa-Francorchamps with the Finn setting the quickest time of the day in the afternoon, a 1m43.355s, to finish just over a tenth-and-a-half clear of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.

One of the key stories being followed is the relative gains of the new 'Spec 3' engines both leading teams have brought to Belgium, but both men were reserving judgement.

“Obviously we never put in the car anything we don’t think is a bigger step forward or better so it’s not possible to say," Raikkonen said.

"It’s not a night and day difference ever, otherwise you could see by yourself if that was the case."

Vettel added: "We’ll see what the next two weeks bring. For now, everyone seems quite happy that the engine is doing what it’s supposed to do. 

"It is only Friday so you cannot tell anything. Let's wait until tomorrow."

The German would also appear to have some work to do after errors on both his qualifying simulations left him down in fifth.

"Kimi maybe was a bit happier on one lap but we still have a bit of time," he said. "The car felt not yet where I want it to be. We have a bit of margin [but] there’s quite a bit more in the car. I need to make sure I get to it tomorrow.

"Here it's important to be confident to get the right timing as there isn’t much time to think when to turn in and so on because the cars are quite fast.

"It needs to click. On one lap, it didn’t click but overall it’s going in the right way."

A worry Ferrari might have is the possibility for rain over the weekend at Francorchamps, something that has prevented them from taking victories at the last two races.

“I think we had our weaknesses in the wet but we have worked on those," he admitted. "We understood those so if we have wet conditions it will be quite nice to confirm and see whether we found the right things.

"On this track everything seems to happen faster, so it should be a lot of fun and if we have dry conditions tomorrow for qualifying, we should be okay."