Before the start of the Belgian GP, the Drivers World Championship was a closely fought battle. Only 20 points separated the top 5 drivers. On Lap 16 Jenson Button was running in second with a slight front wing damage. Vettel closed right up the Briton at final corner and tried to overtake Button around the outside. As soon as Vettel moved out of the slip stream he lost control of his car and crashed into the side of Button's car. On board shots from Vettel's car show slight drops of rain at that point which could have led to Vettel losing control of his car.
The race stewards determined that the incident was Vettel's fault and handed him a drive through penalty. But the incident has changed the championship standings significantly. Lewis Hamilton went on to win the race with Mark Webber in second. Hamilton now leads the championship with 182 points and Webber is second with 179 points. But more significantly Vettel is 31 points off the lead with 151 points and Button is in fourth with 147 points.
Vettel would definitely rue this incident if he were to lose the championship this year. It was a bit of a hasty move on Vettel's part although the slippery conditions at that point would have contributed to the crash. Button on the other hand will be furious at the incident. Having done nothing wrong till that point he was needlessly taken out of the race. Button has questioned Vettel's driving after the race.
It would be interesting to see if Red Bull Racing and McLaren would take a stand of supporting one driver for the championship. Although a bit early as there are six more races to go assuming that the Korean GP does take place as scheduled. That would mean a total of 150 championship points for the taking. However barring any misfortune to Webber or Hamilton like today for Alonso, Button and Vettel, the two drivers are on track to fight it out for the championship title.
