Motorsport: Vettel wins after Spa pile-up

Sebastian Vettel has kept his Formula One title hopes alive with a dominant victory in the Belgium Grand Prix.

With championship rival Lewis Hamilton starting to make a break in the points and qualifying on pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, the pressure was on Vettel to reassert himself. And the German did, powering past Hamilton down the long Kemmel Straight on the opening lap and pulling away from there.

“I had a great start and then I’m not sure Lewis saw me,” Vettel said. “He pushed me quite far to the left, but I knew my chance would be later on, up the hill. I think I timed it quite well. Obviously last year I was always ending up short, so yeah, it seems like it was better this year.”

Hamilton had to settle for second but still retains a 17-point lead in title race, although he admits his Mercedes-AMG team has work to do to catch up to the more powerful Ferrari.

“We did everything we could, I did everything I could in the race and I think we ultimately performed quite well this weekend, but he drove past me like I wasn’t even there on the straights,” Hamilton said. “So we’ve got to keep pushing as hard as we can to try to catch up but, you know, that’s all I can say.”

Max Verstappen broke his hoodoo at Spa, where he had previously never completed a racing lap inside the top four positions, to claim the final podium spot in third. Thousands of orange-clad Dutch fans were on hand to cheer on Verstappen, whose mother is Belgian, making this a partial home-race for the young Red Bull Racing star.

“There was no extra pressure,” Verstappen said. “I just enjoy driving here at Spa in general. It has nothing to do with the fans, they just give you extra motivation and I just like to see it next to the track: that much orange. I think it shouldn't give you extra pressure. But, yeah, today was a good recovery after yesterday when we were unlucky in qualifying. So, of course, happy to be on the podium here. Of course, it was also great to see in the last lap, all the fans cheering you on. So really happy with that.”

Verstappen’s Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo has a less fortunate day, getting caught up in a first corner crash that also included Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Charles Leclerc (Sauber).

Hulkenberg triggered the accident by locking his brakes and slamming into the back of Alonso. That pitched the Spaniard’s car airborne and over the top of Leclerc’s machine, with the young Sauber driver fortunate to escape injury as Alonso’s McLaren scraped over his Halo cockpit protection.

In the resulting chaos Raikkonen and Ricciardo hit each other, while both were able to continue after repairs they ultimately retired to save running on the engine and gearbox.

“I don’t know exactly what happened at the start, but I felt a tap and to be honest I just remember sliding and the next minute I hit the back of Kimi,” Ricciardo explained. “It was just a turn one incident and apologies to Kimi if his retirement was down to me, but I’m pretty sure it all started behind me and was a chain reaction.”

Indycar: Power goes flat-out to victory lane

Australia’s Will Power has kept his slim Indycar championship hopes alive with a commanding victory at the Gateway oval in St Louis.

The 248-lap race turned into a split strategy affair with some drivers slowing down to save fuel and an extra pitstop, while other kept running flat-out to the finish. Power was in the latter camp, taking control of the race over the last 100 laps and running hard to the end, even though that meant an extra pitstop for fuel.

It was the right call from his strategist, team owner Roger Penske, that helped Power have the speed to carve his way back past those saving fuel.

“It was just a lot of fun out there,” Power said. “I was so happy to win my first race with Roger [as my race strategist]. I was just wondering when that was going to come because I didn't get to work with him in Indy and obviously won two races there. That was my first win with Roger [as my race strategist] and when he told me I could go wide open and not save fuel, that was a great call and a lot of fun to chop through the field. I've never passed so many cars in a shorter period of time.”

The win means Power is now 68-points behind championship leader Scott Dixon with two races remaining at the road courses in Portland and Sonoma, which play to Power’s strengths.

It was also his 35th Indycar win which takes him to seventh on the all-time winners list for the US category.

MotoGP: Rain drowns British GP hopes

Heavy rain forced the cancelation of the British MotoGP race at Silverstone.

Organisers were aware of the forecast for torrential rain and tried to get the race in early, by shifting it from its traditional 1pm start time to 11:30am, but the rain came early and didn’t relent.

Due to rider concerns about the amount of standing water on the circuit the organisers had no choice but to call off the event, making it the first premier class motorcycle grand prix cancelled his the 1980 Austrian GP.

DTM: Zanardi stars in Italy

Alex Zanardi surprised the DTM field with a stunning fifth place finish in the second race at Misano, Italy on the weekend.

The 51-year-old Italian, who lost both his legs in a horrific Champ Car in 2001, was making a guest appearance in the German series’ visit to Italy.

Racing under lights and in the rain Zanardi showed good pace and smart strategy in his BMW M4 to cross the line in fifth place, ahead of race one winner Paul Di Resta.

“Fifth place is the payoff for the whole weekend,” Zanardi said. “I am very happy with this result and at my age, I won't get too many more opportunities to celebrate racing successes like this.”

He joked: “I had a very good racing speed and wasn't sure what to do when slower drivers kept appearing in front of me. Seriously, I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity by BMW Motorsport.”

The second race was won by fellow BMW driver Joel Eriksson, claiming his maiden victory in the series at just 20 years of age.