Vettel wins in Belgium to rein in Hamilton

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel sped away from first corner carnage to celebrate a commanding Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday and trim Lewis Hamilton's Formula One lead to 17 points with eight races remaining.

Hamilton, last year's winner in Belgium, started from pole position but finished second for Mercedes while Red Bull's Max Verstappen gave his army of Dutch fans something to cheer with third place.

In the battle of four times world champions, Hamilton now has 231 points to Vettel's 214.

"I had a great start, I'm not sure Lewis saw me as he pushed me to the left in the first lap, but after last year I ended up short, and this year it was the other way around," said Vettel of his decisive pass on Hamilton.

"As soon as I was ahead I relaxed. I had a good restart after the safety car, and after that it was a very smooth race," he added.

The start provided most of the afternoon's excitement, with Fernando Alonso's McLaren flying over Charles Leclerc's Sauber at the La Source hairpin after being rammed by Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.

All three retired as the safety car was deployed for four laps but Leclerc had reason to thank the 'halo' head protection system -- introduced this...