Lewis Hamilton has cut Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to just seven points as he claimed a start to finish victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, though his German rival finished just two seconds adrift in second place.
The pair spent the entirety of the race in close proximity, but Vettel never quite had the pace to challenge the Mercedes driver and had to settle for second place, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo claiming the final podium spot on third.
The race began with a clean opening lap, with Fernando Alonso the major gainer as he rose from tenth on the grid to seventh, however the lack of outright top speed from his Honda engine meant he quickly fell back across the following handful of laps and eventuallty retired.
Max Verstappen also retired from the race on only Lap 8, much to the disappointment of his massive fanbase present at the circuit. A suspected engine failure forced the Dutchman to pull off the circuit.
That led to a ten-second stop/go penalty for Kimi Räikkönen as the Finn failed to slow for the yellow flags, dropping Räikkönen from fourth to seventh, though he managed to recover to finish fourth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
Nico Hulkenberg matched his British GP sixth-place to add to his impressive points haul, with Romain Grosjean seventh, ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa.
Esteban Ocon finished ninth but was lucky to see the chequered flag as he and Force India team-mate Sergio Perez made contact on the opening lap and then again later in the race, which damaged Ocon's front-wing, whilst Perez suffered a puncture running up Eau Rouge.
That led to a safety car as debris littered the track, which bunched up the pack and forced a round of unscheduled pitstops.
Carlos Sainz completed the top ten for Toro Rosso.
