After the famous Spa-Francorchamps weather threw up a thrilling spectacle that saw Lewis Hamilton emerge on top of a nail-biting three-way showdown on a drying track, a dry race saw Vettel take the upper hand on the first lap and simply cruise away into the distance to take a fifth win of the year.
The German now has a championship lead of 48 points, which will make it extremely difficult for any of his rivals to deny him a fourth successive championship crown over the course of the eight remaining tracks.
At the start, pole-sitter Hamilton held the advantage through La Source, but a better run through the fearsome Eau Rouge corner was what enabled Vettel to slingshot his way past the Brit before the braking zone for Les Combes on the very first lap.
Behind, Rosberg made his way from fourth on the grid up to third initially, ahead of Jenson Button who made a great getaway from sixth on the grid. Both soon found themselves demoted by Alonso however, who was able to vault from ninth to fifth at the start and make his way up to third by the end of the sixth lap, passing both Button and Rosberg at Les Combes.
Webber also passed Button on the fifth lap to demote the McLaren driver to sixth, with Paul Di Resta, who dropped back two places from an impressive fifth on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez completing the early top ten.
The Mexican would soon find himself dropping down the order with a drive-through penalty, which he earned for forcing Grosjean off the track at Les Combes as he made his way past the Frenchman on lap 8.
During the first pit-stop phase, Alonso was able to close the three second gap to Hamilton, who lost time stuck behind Grosjean after an earlier first stop. Once Alonso came in three laps later, the Ferrari driver rejoined the circuit right behind Hamilton and took second place at La Source on lap 15.
There was nothing the Spaniard could do about Vettel however, who was already seven seconds clear at this stage and would extend his advantage to 17 seconds by the chequered flag. Vettel's 31st career victory sees the championship leader draw level with Nigel Mansell in the all-time list.
Hamilton held on for third position, unable to respond to Alonso after being passed but never threatened by his teammate Rosberg behind. Having seemed on the cusp of passing the German at first, Webber settled into fifth position behind Rosberg, where he would remain for the duration of the race.
Button seemed set to attempt a one-stop strategy, briefly leading after Vettel and Alonso made their second stops, but dropped back to sixth place at the finish after making a second visit to the pits himself 10 laps from home.Romain Grosjean successfully got by with a single stop, only dropping seventh place to Felipe Massa with a handful of laps remaining.
Massa had originally passed Grosjean when the Lotus driver ran off track at Les Combes, and steadily climbed up the order in a solid drive. Nonetheless, he'll have to do more at Monza to stand a chance of keeping his seat, after which time it is said that Ferrari will make their decision on who will partner Alonso next season.
Completing the points finishers were Adrian Sutil and Daniel Ricciardo, who demoted Perez three laps from the finish at Les Combes in the battle for the final point. It seems only a matter of time before the Aussie is confirmed at Red Bull for next year; a well-deserved promotion after another excellent performance.
Kimi Raikkonen’s incredible points-scoring streak finally came to an end, suffering brake failure at around half-distance. The Finn's car had been puffing black smoke from the front-left wheel for much of the first half of the race, so it was little surprise to see the Lotus plough straight on at the Bus Stop chicane whilst Raikkonen battled Massa for position.
His first non-score of the year drops Raikkonen down to fourth place behind Alonso and Hamilton in the championship.
There was more drama to come at the Bus Stop yet, however. During the second pit-stop phase, Pastor Maldonado's Williams began to held up a queue consisting of Esteban Gutierrez, Sutil, Di Resta (who had made his second stop at this stage) and Nico Hulkenberg.
Having been passed by Esteban Gutierrez into the first part of the chicane on lap 27, Maldonado clipped Sutil, who drove around his outside of the second part, damaging his front wing and clattering into Di Resta as he attempted to steer into the pit-lane for repairs. The Venezuelan was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for causing the chaos.
Jean-Eric Vergne took advantage of Di Resta's retirement to finish twelfth, with Hulkenberg, Gutierrez, the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas next to cross the line.
The impressive Giedo van der Garde, who qualified 14th thanks to rain during qualifying, managed to finish a creditable 16th, ahead of the penalised Maldonado, with Marussia drivers Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton, who dropping back quickly having qualified 15th and 16th respectively and rounding out the finishers.
The only other retirement besides Raikkonen and Di Resta was Charles Pic, who retired after eight laps due to an oil leak.
The next race at the ultra-low downforce Monza circuit will be a crucial opportunity for Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen to regain ground on a seemingly unstoppable Vettel. With nearly all of the remaining 'flyaway' tracks considered strong venues for Red Bull, another win for the reigning champion would in all likelihood effectively end the title contest.
And it seemed just a few months ago that we were in for such an exciting championship battle, didn't it?
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