Christian Horner: Team Principal: "It was a fantastic win for Sebastian and the team, which came down to the first lap. He had an average start, but managed to position himself well going through the first corner and he knew that the first run through Eau Rouge up the hill was going to be critical. He went for it, got in the tow and managed to make the move stick round the outside of Lewis and then got his head down and built up a great lead. For Mark, his clutch wasn't good in preparation going to the grid. We did our best to tidy it up but he conceded a place to Rosberg off the start. Once he was comprised in his positioning within the pack, he wasn't able to get a clean run through La Source and Alonso managed to get a run on him down the hill and pass him into Eau Rouge. Thereafter it was a matter of trying to find a way through, past the Mercedes and Ferrari ahead, but unfortunately whenever we got close enough we seemed to lose aero performance and so Mark couldn't get close enough to make a move. We didn't come here expecting to win today, so it's great to get a victory to start the second half of the season"
Thierry Salvi, Renault: "Spa highlights strong chassis-engine packages so winning here means perhaps more than any other circuit for the Red Bull-Renault partnership. The car has performed well all weekend, with consistently fastest end of speed straights and good traction in the corners. Congratulations to Seb for his second win in three years here and to Mark for a solid fifth. Getting this result here looks good for the next race in Monza."
Stefano Domenicali: "After qualifying hadn't really given a true picture of the hierarchy down pit lane, today's result showed just how competitive is our car. This second place wasn't easy to come by and follows on from a difficult month and comes after plenty of speculation, which we prefer to reply to with results on track. Certainly this result alone is not enough, because we cannot claim to be satisfied until we manage to reduce the gap to Red Bull and be able to fight for first place. In the coming races, we will try to improve the car to give Fernando a chance of fighting for the Championship title and for Felipe to deliver performances which can help the team: those are our goals, the rest doesn't matter."
Pat Fry: "The performance level we saw in today's race is what we were unable to demonstrate yesterday in qualifying and it was certainly worthy of a front row. We knew that with a competitive car on this track, we would be in the game, even if moving up from ninth and tenth places and coming out of La Source in one piece is no easy task. Fernando got a great start, being both aggressive and steady at the same time, even if unfortunately, it was not enough to get past Vettel. In the middle stint of the race, their pace was very similar and it was only in the closing stages that the gap grew. Felipe had a harder time, especially at the start when he got caught up in traffic. We tried bringing forward his first pit stop to make up some places, but in the end, the time lost at the start prevented him from getting into the top five. Now we will tackle two very important races and only by improving the car will we be able to fight for the lead in the Championship."
"At one point we were considering opting for a one-stop strategy for him, and, if we'd been able to do that successfully, he may well have got that podium finish. As things turned out, it wasn't to be; but, as I say, he drove an excellent race, and the eight points he scored were richly deserved, lifting our constructors' world championship ranking to fifth place.
"Clearly, fifth place isn't where we want to be, but it's one place higher than we were this morning.
"As for Checo, he'll be disappointed with having got involved in an incident with Romain, because, had he not done so, he'd definitely have scored points too.
"So we're a bit disappointed, overall, of course we are, but equally we're pleased to see firm evidence of underlying improvement in terms of pace. We're still not where we want to be, but the trend is clearly in the right direction.
"Looking forward, then, from here we go to Italy, where we hope that that underlying pace improvement will produce better on-track results. Having said that, we never under-estimate our opponents, and we're far from complacent about our chances. Nonetheless, we'll be doing our utmost to put on a good show at Monza, a magnificent racetrack whose unique ambience always creates a very special vibe."
Lotus F1 Team endured a difficult Belgian Grand Prix, with brake failure leading to the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen whilst Romain Grosjean employed a one-stop strategy to finish eighth.
Kimi's DNF was the first of his Lotus F1 Team career and his first retirement in 39 races. It was his first non-points finish in 28 races and only his second non-points finish since driving for the team. He now drops to fourth in the Drivers' Championship on 134 points, having been overtaken by second-placed Fernando Alonso [151] and third-placed Lewis Hamilton [139]. The team remains in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship on 187 points from Ferrari's 218.
Kimi started from P8 with a scrubbed set of medium tyres, changing to scrubbed medium compound tyres on lap 14. He retired on lap 25. Romain started from P7 on a scrubbed set of medium tyres, changing to a new set of hard compound tyres on lap 22.
Eric Boullier, Team Principal: "It was a disappointing weekend, with qualifying not as good as we had expected and then a difficult first lap in the race. Kimi suffered from a brake failure which, of course, is a concern. We already believe we know why it happened and we will investigate this in detail to prevent the situation arising again. Romain finished eighth which clearly isn't the sort of position we hope for at the end of a race weekend. Today we lost some pace and part of that might be due to the low temperatures. We must now look ahead, learn from this weekend and make sure that next year we can deliver on a medium downforce track."
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "It was a difficult race for us. We didn't have the pace in qualifying yesterday and didn't seem to have the pace today. We had a difficult first lap where we lost a few places and found ourselves sat behind slower cars. After that it was difficult to make up any ground. Unfortunately Kimi retired from the race with a front brake failure which we are now investigating. Romain was on a one stop strategy which was the right thing to do today. We look forward to starting again in Monza where we will bring new developments to the car can hopefully have a better weekend."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader: "Spa is traditionally very hard on engines, with long sections at full throttle, changes of altitude and compressions putting the engines under pressure. The RS27 has performed well all weekend and we were hopeful of a better result. The starting positions put us down in the pack and despite Romain's efforts we could not make up any places. It's a shame for Kimi but at least we come away with some points this weekend, which is important for the championship."
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg secured a strong team result this afternoon at the Belgian Grand Prix, taking third and fourth places respectively at Spa-Francorchamps. The team consolidated second place in the Constructors' Championship, scoring a total of 27 points.
Lewis' third-place finish promotes him to third place in the Drivers' Championship and was the team's seventh of the year. Lewis ran a two-stop strategy, stopping on laps 11 and 26, running option/option/prime. Nico ran the same strategy, making his stops on laps 12 and 25, also running option/option/prime.
Ross Brawn: It is a measure of how far we have come in the past 12 months that a race which would have been our result of the season last year now feels slightly average. However, we must keep things in perspective: this was a good team result, we scored a good haul of points for both championships, but we were on average half a second off the pace we needed to fight for the win at this track, especially when the tyres were new. The performance of both cars was pretty respectable by the end of the race but we were not quick enough in the early stages. Both drivers delivered a fault-free performance and the team performed well at the pit stops, so we got the maximum out of the car this afternoon. It's a good foundation for the second half of our season and we now need to find a little more performance for the next races.
Toto Wolff: We expected the race would be tougher for us in dry conditions compared to the mixed wet-dry weather we experienced yesterday in qualifying. Even so, we now have to analyse why we were lacking some performance relative to other teams when we debrief this evening and back at the factory next week. Third and fourth positions represent a very solid team result and good points for the Constructors' Championship, so we can be happy with what we achieved this weekend. And we will keep working hard back at base for the next races.
The Sauber F1 Team was not able to claim points at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps. Nico Hulkenberg complained about the balance of the car, which affected its performance and left him in 13th. Esteban Gutierrez started 21st and had a difficult task ahead of him. Due to good lap times and managing his tyres well, he was able to get close to the points. A drive through penalty left him without a chance reaching the top ten, however. He finished 14th.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "We expected more this weekend. On a performance level, we were able to close the gap to our direct competitors. However, we weren't able to translate that into points. We have to have a look at the data as to why Nico's performance decreased during the race. Esteban did a good job, but the drive through penalty made it impossible for him to score points."
Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "In the end the race was dry, and we opted for a two stop strategy for both cars. For Nico it was clear from the early part of the race he was struggling with the balance of the car, and the second and third stints were simply not fast enough to score points today. We need to understand why that is when we get the car back and analyse the data. It was clear that for Esteban starting so far back would be difficult, but his pace and tyre management was strong, and it was unfortunate he ended up with a drive through penalty. Otherwise he would have been close to the points towards the end of the race. Now we will regroup and are looking forward to Monza in two weeks time."
Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: "I'm pleased to see Sahara Force India back in the points after a fine performance by Adrian. He clearly enjoyed himself out there today and his overtaking moves were a highlight of the race. The strategy calls from the pit wall helped him stay in the hunt for points and his race pace was good. The incident with Maldonado hitting Paul was very disappointing because Paul was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It certainly cost us the chance to get both cars in the points. Going forward we will take the positives from the weekend and look to build on this performance level in a couple of weeks' time in Monza."
Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer: Pastor and Valtteri both made good starts on the medium tyre and our initial pace was good. We switched to the hard tyre for the second stints to allow us more flexibility if the forecasted rain arrived in the late stages, however the race remained dry and our pace on the hard compound tyres wasn't quick enough compared to our nearest competitors. We also had the added challenge of a radio problem with Pastor which began shortly before the second pitstop and then as he came in for his pitstop he was involved in an incident with Di Resta which resulted in him needing a new front wing. Pastor then received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the incident which dropped him down the order. Valtteri had a clean race but after being held up initially during his medium tyre stint, we just didn't have enough pace on the hard compound to progress beyond P15 today.
Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Sadly we have not been able to capitalise on the improved form we showed in Hungary. The variable track conditions put us out of position in qualifying yesterday and as a result we were unable to make an impression in the race. We'll hope for better in Monza.
Franz Tost: "Normally, we would not be happy with a single point for tenth place, but given how things went in qualifying, today we can be relieved that both drivers and the team did a good job to recover, with Daniel going from nineteenth to tenth and Jean-Eric from eighteenth to twelfth. It was always going to be a difficult Sunday, especially as the rain which could have helped us never arrived. But both cars were fast enough to work their way through a large part of the mid field and Daniel and Jean-Eric produced some exciting passing moves to get back in the points zone. We ran different strategies, to try and make the most of any opportunity, with Daniel starting on the Hard tyre and running a longer first stint and, by the final stages this proved to be slightly quicker than Jev's, although they both made two stops. The most positive aspect of today's performance is that our pace seems to be back at the relative level we had earlier this season. We are now looking forward to a competitive performance in our home race in Monza."
Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton delivered another two car finish for the Marussia F1 Team in Spa today, but it was not the race the Team had hoped for after such a positive wet qualifying session yesterday, in which they made it through to Q2. In a dry race it was always going to be a tough battle for them to retain their grid positions, or thereabouts, and this afternoon they ended the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix in 18th and 19th positions.
Having lined up side by side on the eighth row, both drivers lost places at the start to emerge from the opening lap 18th (Jules) and 21st (Max). They started on the Hard tyre before switching to the Medium for the middle stint of three then back to the Hard rubber for the final stretch. Max paid an extra visit to the pit lane for a drive through penalty for a blue flag infringement.
John Booth, Team Principal: "A tough race today, coming on the back of such a positive day yesterday. Both drivers really suffered at the start of the race, losing position much more quickly than we expected on the opening laps. From this point in the race it was really all about trying to claim back positions but unfortunately we simply didn't have the pace to do that. In terms of the decisions made through the race and the operation of the pit crew, there were no issues today at a race where we have brought developments in these areas. Overall we simply need to go back and regroup and attempt to extract as much performance out of the current package as possible before the next race in Monza."
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has taken his 31st career victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, held on the longest circuit of the year. Vettel's latest win, taken using a two-stop strategy, means that he draws level with Nigel Mansell in terms of overall victories. The 26-year-old Red Bull driver, who also set the fastest lap of the race on the hard tyre, claimed the lead from second on the grid and now extends his championship advantage to 46 points over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Alonso used strategy to boost himself from ninth on the grid to second at the end of the race. Alonso stopped twice, using the medium tyre for two stints before switching to the hard tyres on lap 28, with a pit stop that took just 2.6 seconds.
The race started in 19 degrees of ambient temperature with 25 degrees of track temperature. Despite the 60% chance of rain predicted, conditions stayed dry from lights to flag. All the drivers started on the medium tyre, with the exception of the two Marussias of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo and the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez.
The first driver to make a scheduled stop was Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg on lap nine, swapping to his first set of hards. Vettel pitted from the lead five laps later, fitting mediums, before re-joining in second place. The German was back in the lead before his final stop for a set of hard tyres on lap 30, coming out in front once more. His strategy ensured that he led every lap.
Vettel's team mate Mark Webber adopted a different two-stop strategy, switching to the hard compound tyre at his first stop and then doing a final stint on the medium tyre to finish fifth.
The only driver to stop just once was Lotus's Romain Grosjean, who finished in eighth. The highest-placed driver to start on the hard tyre was Ricciardo, who ended up 10th from 19th on the grid. He also finished the race on the medium tyre.
Paul Hembery: "With qualifying yesterday finishing in wet conditions, the drivers were allowed to start the race on whichever compound they preferred, opening up the possibilities for different strategies still further. A number of drivers and teams maximised these opportunities to the utmost today, especially Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, who controlled the race. But we also saw some very good strategy calls all the way down the grid, which enabled many drivers to improve on their start positions. Following the uncertain weather earlier in the weekend, this was actually quite a straightforward Belgian Grand Prix, with dry conditions from start to finish and no safety car periods. But Spa remains probably the ultimate test of a Formula One tyre, with its long lap and high energy loadings, so the performance and durability of our tyres after a hard-fought race on one of the most epic tracks in the world were very much in line with our expectations."
