Formula 1 World Championship leader Jenson Button and countryman Lewis Hamilton have both retired from the Belgian Grand Prix on the opening lap, after being caught up in a chain reaction m?l?e that caused chaos at Spa-Francorchamps.

Having qualified a lowly 14th - already dealing a blow to his title hopes - Button's ailing advantage in the drivers' standings is now likely to be further reduced after the British star found himself tagged fro💟m behind by Renault rookie Romain Grosjean, spinning the Brawn GP across the tra🐈ck, into the circuit barriers and out of contention. The first time the 29-year-old has not finished a race all year, it could scarcely have come at a worse moment.

In the ensuing chaos, McLaren-Mercedes ace Hamilton too received a whack from the rear and was spun into the barriers, in company with Scuderia Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, with the pile-up bringing out the sa𝓡fety car.

When the race resumed, Kimi Raikkonen made s✃hort work of powering his Ferrari past Force India pole-sitter Giancarlo Fisichella and into the lead, as Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil all endeavoured t♉o recover ground after pitting for repairs.