Spa, Belgium (My Sportsbook) - Kimi Raikkonen gave Ferrari its first victory in Formula One this season, while points leader Jenson Button and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton crashed on the opening lap of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen charged from sixth to second heading into the first corner of the opening lap, and then survived the melee in the fifth turn where Brawn GP's Button was tagged by Renault rookie Romain Grosjean. Button spun into the barrier, knocking him out of contention. Hamilton also slammed into the barrier when he was hit from behind by Toro Rosso newcomer Jaime Alguersuari.

After the safety car paced the field for the next three laps, Raikkonen benefited from his Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to easily overtake pole sitter Giancarlo Fisichella. Raikkonen held off Fisichella at the finish by just 0.9 seconds to claim his 18th career F1 victory, but his first since April 2008 in the Spanish Grand Prix.

"It hasn't been an easy year for us," Raikkonen said. "It's quite a long time since I last won. My aim has been to win at least one race and keep us in third place in the [Constructors'] championship."

Raikkonen has now won four of the last five Belgian GP's held at the Spa- Francorchamps Circuit.

Fisichella, who surprisingly captured the pole on Saturday, finished second to give his Force India team its first points in 30 grand prix. Fisichella is widely rumored to be heading to Ferrari to fill-in for the injured Felipe Massa when F1 competes on the Italian automaker's home turf in two weeks at Monza.

"I was quicker than Kimi, and he overtook me after the safety car because of the KERS," said Fisichella, who scored eight points for his podium finish. "I'm a little bit sad for that."

Luca Badoer, in his second start as substitute driver for Massa, finished 14th after starting last in the field.

Button failed to score a point for the first time in 2009. The Briton had won six of the first seven grand prix this season. Button, who started a season- worst 14th, did not take a severe blow to his lead in the world championship standings after finishing 17th. He now holds a 16-point advantage over Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello, who finished seventh.

"As we were going down the straight through turn five, I went to the outside of Heikki [Kovalainen], braked and then I was still on the outside, and Grosjean out-braked himself and hit my back wheel," Button said. "It's frustrating to be taken out like that."

Barrichello managed to cross the finish line, despite oil leaking from his car in the final laps.

McLaren's Hamilton also retired after the first-lap accident and finished 19th.

"Jenson spun it in turn five and everyone piled into him, so I backed off a little bit and got hit by the people behind me," Hamilton said.

Sebastian Vettel finished third, while Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber was ninth. Webber had to serve a pit road pass-through penalty for pulling in front of Nick Heidfeld when the two exited the pits during the first round of stops.

Vettel has now moved to within 19 points of Button.

"If you look at the championship board, for sure it was a very good result for us," Vettel said.

Robert Kubica finished fourth, while his teammate Heidfeld came in fifth to give BMW Sauber to of the top-five finishing positions.