Victory for Hamilton at Spa

Hamilton: Third win of season

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Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday as he and Mark Webber gained momentum over their world championship rivals.

The McLaren driver led from the first corner at Spa-Francorchamps to take his third win of the season and his first at the historic track.

Hamilton's win also hands him a three-point lead in the title race over Red Bull driver Webber, who finished second despite making a poor start from pole position.

However, the other three drivers in title contention - Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso - all failed to pick up points.

Vettel collided with Button while the pair were disputing second place, putting the defending champion out of the race while Vettel fell out of contention.

Alonso, meanwhile, was a late retirement having also struggled in the race after starting 10th on the grid.

Renault's Robert Kubica finished third ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Force India's Adrian Sutil.

Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg finished sixth ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, Renault's Vitaly Petrov and Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi completing the top 10.

Gift

Given Spa's reputation for rapidly changing weather conditions, Hamilton said after qualifying second that he would temper his aggression on the first lap of the race.

In the event though, he was gifted the lead when Webber made a dreadful start in dry conditions which saw him drop to sixth by the La Source hairpin.

He then fell another place but there was chaos at the end of lap one following a brief rain shower at the Bus Stop chicane.

Button passed Kubica for second place but all the frontrunners ran wide and there was a collision further back, with Rubens Barrichello slamming his Williams into Alonso's Ferrari. The Brazilian was out on the spot while Alonso dropped right down the field following a pit stop.

With Hamilton and Button now one-two the safety car duly came out. Kubica was passed by Vettel - who briefly took to the grass on the long run up to Les Combes - with Webber fifth ahead of Massa, Nico Hulkenberg and Sutil.

Racing resumed on lap four and Hamilton set about putting distance between himself and his team-mate, who had slight damage to his left front wing. The gap was 6.112s by lap 10, with Button just ahead of Vettel and a train of cars forming behind.

The Bus Stop chicane was again the centre of drama on lap 17, however, when Vettel lost control of his car under braking and slammed into the side of Button's car.

The world champion was out on the spot while the Red Bull driver pitted for a new front wing. Webber was the chief beneficiary in terms of the title battle, climbing to third place.

Vettel picked up a drive-through penalty as a result and served it on lap 21, dropping to 14th. The German's painful afternoon then unravelled completely five laps later when he suffered a left-rear puncture.

Webber made his scheduled stop on lap 23, but could not get ahead of Kubica when the Renault driver stopped one lap later. Massa stayed fourth after pitting on the same lap as the Pole, with Hamilton comfortably retaining the lead when he came in on lap 25.

But any thoughts of the race turning into a procession were dispelled when gathering rain clouds started to deliver their load with 10 laps to go.

Caught out on dry tyres, Hamilton ran wide into the gravel at Rivage corner but tip-toed out before leading Kubica and Webber slowly back to the pits.

Good fortune

They all stopped for intermediates and with Hamilton keeping his lead, there was further good fortune for Webber when Kubica overshot his pit and dropped to third.

Alonso, who almost collided with Vettel in the pitlane when both stopped for wet tyres, then lost control exiting Malmedy corner on lap 38. With his car momentarily blocking the track, the safety car came out for a second time.

It was in at the end of lap 40 to set up a four-lap sprint to the finish. However, there were no heroics among the frontrunners as Hamilton led the field through the gloom to the chequered flag.

Having started 21st on the grid as a result of the penalty he picked up in Hungary, Schumacher owed his seventh place to a decision to run a long opening stint.

The seven-times world champion ran as high as fifth before the gamble paid off - Schumacher making his mandatory stop when rivals stopped for wet tyres as the second rain shower hit.

Even so, Sutil passed him for fifth midway through the race, with team-mate Rosberg also barging his way past with three laps to go.

After running in the points for most of the afternoon, Hulkenberg elected to stay out on slicks when the rain hit - the Williams drivers' own gamble backfiring as he slipped back to 14th.

Liuzzi finished behind Jaime Alguersuari on the track but the Toro Rosso driver was handed a post-race drive-through penalty for cutting a chicane while overtaking Liuzzi at the end of lap 42.

Result

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1hr 29mins 04.268secs
2. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault +00:01.571
3. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 00:03.493
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:08.264
5. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 00:09.094
6. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 00:12.359
7. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 00:15.548
8. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 00:16.678
9. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 00:23.851
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 00:34.831
11. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 00:36.019
12. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:39.895
13. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:49.457
14. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth 1 lap
15. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1 lap
16. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus - Cosworth 1 lap
17. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin - Cosworth 1 lap
18. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin - Cosworth 1 lap
19. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus - Cosworth 1 lap
20. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) HRT - Cosworth 2 laps
r. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 7 laps
r. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 29 laps
r. Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT - Cosworth 39 laps
r. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams - Cosworth 44 laps

Drivers' championship: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 182pts, 2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 179, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 151, 4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 147, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 141, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 109, 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 104, 8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 102, 9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 45, 10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 44, 11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 30, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 21, 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19, 14 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 12, 15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 10, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 7, 17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 6, 18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 4, 19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 20 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 21 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0, 22 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0, 24 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 0, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0
Constructors' championship: 1 Red Bull 330pts, 2 McLaren 329, 3 Ferrari 250, 4 Mercedes GP 146, 5 Renault 123, 6 Force India 57, 7 Williams 40, 8 BMW Sauber 27, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 11, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0