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      Sebastian Vettel took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the 2013 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, and the manner in which his Red Bull imperiously swept ahead of the Mercedes on the climb up towards Les Combes set the tone for a dominant race in which the reigning world champion was never troubled.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 16.8s adrift of Vettel’s RB9 after the 44 laps.

      Hamilton held on for third, another 10.8s further back and 2.1s ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, who made a welcome return to the points. At one stage the German was under threat from Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who made another poor start and spent the afternoon fighting back, but towards the end the Australian began to lose pace and was 3.9s behind Rosberg at the flag.Jenson Button had a more competitive run for McLaren and led very briefly during the pit stops on the 15th lap, but Vettel was back in front before the lap was over.