BRUSSELS, Belgium (CMC) — Sebastian Vettel took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the 2013 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday.

As Vettel checked out, Hamilton was unable to hold off the fast-starting Fernando Alonso who bullied his Ferrari through the field from ninth on the grid to second place, but the Spaniard was 16.8 seconds adrift of Vettel’s Red Bull after the 44 laps.

Hamilton, who has Grenadian roots, held on for third, another 10.8s further back and 2.1s ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

“I got everything that I could out of the car today but we just weren’t as quick as Sebastian and Fernando,” said Hamilton.

“We have done a good job this weekend but Spa and Monza are always unique tracks because of the low-drag requirements, and I expect we will be more competitive in Singapore again. It’s still a great team result to finish third with Nico right behind me in fourth, so we will take the positives from this afternoon into the next races.”