Sebastian Vettel cut Lewis Hamilton’s lead at the top of the Driver Standings to 17 points after a faultless performance at an action-packed Belgian Grand Prix .
But the race at Spa will be remembered for the scary and spectacular opening-corner crash which brought the safety car out and forced five drivers to retire.
Nico Hülkenberg’s brakes locked up on the approach to the first turn, causing him to slam into the back of Fernando Alonso and send the Spaniard’s car flying over the top of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber .
It meant the first four laps of the Belgian Grand Prix were led by the safety car and the trio involved in the crash were all forced to retire along with Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, whose car was irreparably damaged in the smash.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was also involved and rejoined the race a lap down after extensive repairs were made to his rear wing.
But the Aussie, who announced last week he would be leaving to join Renault at the end of the season, was eventually forced to retire.
Fernando Alonso, who recently announced he would be retiring from the sport, Hülkenberg and Leclerc all walked away from the incident but were taken for a medical examination as a precaution.
It was a case of deja vu for Alonso, who was involved in a near-identical incident at this track in 2012.