Sebastian Vettel extended his already yawning lead in this year's drivers' world championship on Sunday when he drove to a well-judged if, at times, fortunate victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old defending champion recovered from a poor start and problems with blistering tyres to ride his luck and emerge on top ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in a memorable one-two triumph.

It was the German's first win in four races and only his second in six as he re-established his supremacy.

Vettel came home 3.7 seconds clear of Australian Webber, who dropped back after a bad start and then recovered splendidly, with Briton Jenson Button claiming third for McLaren after a topsy-turvy race. Two times champion Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher, 42, the seven-times champion marking the 20th anniversary of his F1 debut with a dazzling drive into the points from the back of the grid. Schumacher's Mercedes team-mate and fellow-German Nico Rosberg came sixth ahead of another German Adrian Sutil of Force India with Brazilian Felipe Massa eighth for Ferrari.

Russia’s Vitaly Petrov was ninth for the Renault team.